The Blank Sky
by BreatheWordsOfDisaster
Summary: Tree Hill Academy was unlike any other place in the world, or maybe it was exactly the same. Haley James had spent her entire life going unnoticed, but being Tree Hill Academy's newest scholarship student had its unfortunate perks. Nathan Scott had it all, he was popular, desired, a true rebel, but he lacked one thing. A cause. Neither of them meant to fall in love, but that didn't
1. Tree Hill High, Where Dreams Die

**CHAPTER 1:** Tree Hill High, The Place Where Dreams Die

"Tree Hill Academy, an uplifting and nurturing environment for your male or female adolescent of ages 14 to 18." Haley James droned, as she turned over the page to continue reading aloud the next side of the severely intense coloured pamphlet. "At this boarding school we encourage academia, athleticism, compassion, and turning our students into brainwashed bimbos that will one day drown in their own obliviousness and conformism."

"It does not say that!" Quinn protested, ripping the pamphlet out of her younger sister's hands and giving it a quick once over to make sure.

"It might as well Quinn." Haley groaned. "It wouldn't make a difference if it read 'Tree Hill High, the place where dreams die.'"

Quinn ran her hand stressfully through her brown locks and flashed her two other sisters pleading looks.

"I'm sure being shipped off to boarding for the next two years won't be that bad." Taylor piped up, finally getting tired of Quinn trying to burn holes in her skull with her glare.

"Off to a premium start on this pep talk Tay." Haley remarked, nervously fiddling with a loose thread on her shirt.

"I mean think about how many boys you could shag in one day." Taylor continued, looking up from the text conversation she was having with her latest 'hook up'. "They literally live within meters of you. The possibilities are endless."

Haley took a sip of her lukewarm chocolate milk that had been in her backpack for the entire flight and screwed up her face, "Believe or not Taylor I was planning on studying, not slutting it up."

"Well leave your values at the nunnery Virgin Haley, this is your junior year." Taylor scoffed.

"Taylor quit it!" Quinn scolded, she had paled dramatically and was looking on the border of passing out.

"Just because you couldn't get a boyfriend doesn't mean we have to condemn Haley to the same unfortunate fate." Taylor teased.

"I had a boyfriend Taylor, it's not my fault you lured him away from me with promises of kinky sex in the back of your Ute." Quinn scoffed.

This fight, was a frequently visited and sore topic between Quinn and Taylor. Haley had started to fiddle with the ends of her honey blonde hair, decided that she would give her disgusting lukewarm chocolate milk another shot, and had already gotten up to Indium on the period table in her mind when the fight finally broke down.

"What do you think about Haley's new school Viv?"

Vivian made a sound that Haley thought would be heard if a cat and a whale could somehow both be put in a blender. She then unfurled herself from the foetal position she had been curled in on the floor of the airport lounge, shoved her hand through her un-brushed blonde hair, and turned to Haley with her ever present deadpan expression contorting her features.

"Well you know what they say," Vivian started, in her usual monotone voice that she had been had been using for the past six years; since she was 15. "Good times and happiness come to those who decide they want good times and happiness." She then stuck a stray wisp of hair in her mouth and started to chew on it.

"Thanks for that uplifting message." Haley said, she had almost spat out her chocolate milk when Vivian was speaking and had just now regained her composure. Taylor had snorted loudly and then had tried to pass it off as if she had inhaled a fly or something. Quinn on the other hand looked as if she was about to burst into tears.

Quinn was only two years older than Haley, at 18, and younger than both Taylor and Vivian. But when their ditzy but lovable mother had told Haley's sister's to board the plane with Haley and drop her safety in Tree Hill, North Carolina, Quinn had taken it upon herself to make sure everything worked out perfectly. Unfortunately that meant Haley being excited for her new school.

"You know what Quinny, I've changed my mind." Haley said, deciding to cut her sister some slack, "I'm sure I'll adore Tree Hill Academy."

Haley wasn't completely lying. It would be nice to settle down at a school for once, and actually be able to make some friends. She hadn't done that in six years.

Quinn face immediately lit up in delight and she embraced Haley in a tight hug. "I knew you would Haley Bob." Haley inwardly cringed at the use of her middle name, being named after an old cat had its down sides. "You'll be fine. You worked really hard to get this scholarship and Brooke will be there so at least you'll know someone." Quinn finished, finally releasing Haley who had to quickly take in a deep swig of air to fill her already withering lungs.

She then received a shorter hug from Taylor, which consisted of Taylor trying and failing to shove a handful of condoms in Haley's backpack when she wasn't looking. She even got an awkward side hug from Vivian before she shuffled away.

"Bye you guys, love you." Haley said, picking up her luggage and getting ready to walk away.

"We'll come visit you soon." Quinn waved wilding, accidently thwacking Vivian in the face, "Call us whenever!"

Haley had just turned around and started to walk away when her sisters screechy voice made her turn around.

"Haley James tell me you didn't pack the fucking ugly poncho!" Taylor yelled, completely oblivious to the fact that half of the Tree Hill residents in the airport had whirled around to glare at her.

"What poncho?" Haley feigned dumb, the poncho had been the only clothing item she had actually brought from home. As her mother had spent quite a lot of the money she had making sure that Haley could pass off as your average preppy high schooler.

Knowing her sister would make her leave the poncho behind she sprinted out of the airport and quickly boarded the bus that would take her straight to iron gates of Tree Hill Academy.

* * *

"This one is the shampoo and this one is the conditioner, should I label it? Do you think you'll remember?" Dan Scott drawled in a slow and patronizing tone.

"Dad, I have a brain you know." Nathan replied angrily, adjusting the strap of the bag on his shoulder and praying that his father would decide to leave soon.

Dan raised an eyebrow at his son, "Well your grades sure don't show it. Thank god you're attractive and good at basketball."

Nathan rolled his eyes but let the comment trundle over him like the wave of abuse that usually leaked from Dan's mouth.

"Now make sure you to tell your brother that I have taken the curtesy of emailing him his workout schedule." Dan said, "I put yours in your bag."

"I'll tell Lucas." Nathan responded, already knowing that there was no way in hell his half-brother was actually going to follow the work regime Dan had set up for him.

A horn sounded a couple metres away from the pair, as a sleek black car moved into Nathan's eyesight.

"I have to get going." Dan said, he placed a hand on Nathan's shoulder and Nathan tried with everything in him not to recoil away. "You have a lot to live up to son, don't let me down. However, it doesn't matter how well you do in basketball, you'll never be as good as me."

Dan grinned maliciously before allowing the driver to open the door of the car for him and then driving away.

"Good to know Dad." Nathan murmured, before picking up his many bags and suitcases and moving them into the school grounds.

"Hey Nathan." A group of girls giggled whilst the leader winked seductively at him.

"Good to see you Rachel." Nathan tried to keep the grimace out of his voice. There was no denying that Rachel was attractive but she was also an A class bitch.

"Damn little bro, something must have gone to your head in the last few weeks of summer if you're considering hooking up with Rachel Gatina." A deep voice appeared from behind Nathan.

"Three months Luke." Nathan reminded, "You're older than me by three months. And like you should be reprimanding me about Rachel, you were the one that dated her."

"What can I say, I was an idiot when I was fourteen." Lucas responded, as they both started to slowly walk over to the check in table to receive their building name and dorm room. "You should be scared, she's totally after you now. How was the rest of your summer?"

"It was actually a living hell." Nathan said and ran a hand through his dark hair, "You're so lucky you only have to stay with Dan for half the summer. Also he sent you your workout schedule."

As Dan never ended up marrying Lucas' mother Karen, it meant that both Dan and Karen had joint custody of Lucas. Which meant that unlike Nathan who had to spend all his time drowning in misery at the Scott estate, Lucas got to spend half his time with his mother.

Lucas chuckled, "He knows I'm not going to do it."

"What about you?" Nathan asked, "How was the rest of your summer."

"It was fine," Lucas said, "The gang misses you."

"Name dears?" The lady in charge of the check in table asked politely.

"Evelyn lovely to see you, is that a new hairstyle?" Nathan said charmingly. He heard Lucas scoff beside him.

"Why yes it is Nathan, thanks for noticing." Evelyn smiled and preened her hair, "Both of you are in Clementine Building. Lucas your dorm number is 112, and Nathan yours is 113." Evelyn passed them both the keys to their rooms.

"Who's my roommate?" Lucas asked, attempting to lean over the table to see the sheet of names.

"Lucas Scott you have Jake Jagielski. And Nathan Scott…" Evelyn said scanning the sheet, Nathan inwardly sighed that meant he would be stuck with some random, "It seems it's your lucky year. There was an extra room in the building so it's appears you have your own room."

"Oh god." Lucas said, as they walked away from the table, "I feel like the number of girls you're going to sleep with this year has amplified." Nathan smirked widely.

"Scott! Hey Scott!" An obnoxious voice suddenly piped up from behind them.

"Which one?" Lucas asked, as they both turned around to face Felix Taggaro.

"Both of you." Felix said, going for intimidating but with his cream coloured pants and light pink sweater it was kind of hard. "I'm going to take over this year in basketball. I'm coming for you, especially you Nathan. And then everyone's finally going to realize what a little bitch you are."

"Nathan…" Lucas warned. But it was too late, Nathan's vision had darkened and white hot anger had already started to pulse through his veins. He had slammed his fist into Felix's jaw with a satisfying crack before he even had time to think.

* * *

Haley was pretty sure she had been dropped off on an alien planet. Everywhere she looked there were people carrying suitcases that probably cost most than her house. She had just passed a guy that was wearing so much gold he might as well have been Midas from the Greek myth. A girl that looked around her age had been reduced to a sobbing mess of dripping mascara and tissues as she had her miniature Chihuahua taken away from her.

She had never been around so many people at once that looked like they belonged in a royal family. If Haley hadn't gotten a full academic scholarship here, her family wouldn't have been able to pay for even one tenth of the tuition money.

She started to make her way over to the lady who was perched at the check in table.

"Name?" The woman smiled kindly at her, Haley squinted down at her nametag which read Evelyn.

"Um Haley James." Haley replied.

"Alright Miss James, you are in Clementine Building. Dorm room number 114. Your roommate's names are Brooke Davis and Peyton Sawyer." Evelyn gushed, handing her the key to her room that looked more like the decorative kind than the kind that actually worked.

"Thank you." Haley responded, taking the key. Thank god for her roommates! At least she knew who they were.

"We'll have Mr Rosenberg over here deliver your bags to your dorm." Evelyn added, gesturing to the man in a suit standing beside her at the table.

Haley nodded, kind of weirded out over all. She then walked away from the table in search of her building. She had passed Wisteria Building and Beatrice Building when she was stopped in her tracks by the exceptionally large crowd ahead of her. After taking in the large clamour and the people gathered in two separate clumps on either side of the pathway, Haley came to the conclusion that there was a fight going on.

A loud cheer went up in the air as the attractive dark hair, blue eyed boy delivered a blow to the other boy's stomach. Haley could already tell that the fight was rather unbalanced. Despite the fact that both boys were similar in diameter, the dark haired boy obviously had a higher aggression rate and more experience. Haley wondered if he had a criminal record. The other boy with caramel skin was wheezing loudly and she knew it was only a matter of time before he gave up. Both boys were covered in dripping scarlet blood, however Haley was pretty sure the dark haired boy was mostly covered in the other boy's blood.

A loud crack pulled Haley out of her inner monologue. She looked up just in time to see the caramel skinned boy crumple to the ground in an unmoving heap on the floor. If she hadn't been able to hear the swearing she would have thought he was dead. She could see boys in an array of blazers and letterman jackets passing around money.

Haley then focused on the dark haired boy. His navy blue shirt was now covered in droplets of blood, as were his hands. It was weird, he almost looked regal standing there. Suddenly his deep cerulean eyes flickered to her chocolate brown ones and she almost lost her footing on the ground. Did this mean she would be next on his hit list? However, instead of acting violently he simply raised his eyebrow at her as if trying to figure out if he knew who she was.

A group of teachers in crisp suits swarmed him a few seconds later.

* * *

"Already Scott!" Brian Durham better known as Whitey exclaimed gruffly, as Nathan was dragged into his office by another teacher.

Nathan closed the door to the office after the teacher left, "I think we've had a good run so far coach."

"You've been back at school for less than an hour and you've already been in another fight." Whitey said, passing Nathan an icepack. "You're one of my best players Nathan but I'm not going to stand for what happened last year. Tone down the fights, and you need to improve your grades."

"Coach!" Nathan shouted.

"That's enough Scott." Whitey said, "I've spoken to the principal and he has decided that if you cannot pass all your subjects by the end of the semester you're off the team."

Nathan sighed and brought the icepack up to rest on the side of his face.

"How's your father?" Whitey asked. He knew how Dan could be and no one deserved that kind of pressure.

"Same as always." Nathan responded curtly.

"This is what's best for you Nathan. You can go now." Whitey said.

Nathan left the office without another word.

"Dan Scott what have you done to that boy." Whitey murmured to himself, "He's a ticking time bomb. And sooner or later he's going to go off, and leave everyone in his wake."

* * *

"Haaaaaalllllllleeeeeeeeyyyyyy." The elongated squeal could be heard across the entire school, and was closely followed by Haley being tackled into a bone crushing hug.

"Brooke…need to breathe." Haley rasped.

"Oh sorry." Brooke immediately released Haley before grinning widely showing off her dimples, and bringing her into a less destructive hug.

"I missed you Hales." Brooke whispered.

"You too Brookie." Haley replied softly.

She had known Brooke since they were kids and it was good to see her again. Her mother had been close with Brooke's mother Victoria. And when Haley had been a kid they had visited Tree Hill every summer as her grandparents lived here. However, it had been a while since she had seen Brooke.

"What the hell happened here?" Brooke asked suddenly.

Haley turned and followed her gaze to where the caramel skinned boy was still lying on the ground, "Oh there was a fight? Who are they?"

"The one on the ground is Felix Taggaro." Brooke stated, "Rich parents, but has an ego bigger than his body. Don't do that, I learnt the hard way."

Haley chuckled slightly as Brooke continued, "The guy attempting to scrap him off the ground is Jackson Grey." Brooke gestured to the boy with an angular looking bone structure and dirty blonde hair. "Who was the other guy in the fight?" Brooke asked.

"Not sure," Haley said, absentmindedly twisting a lock of her hair around her finger, "He was tall, had dark hair and blue eyes. He was attractive and belligerent."

"God already Nate." Brooke sighed, "That was Nathan Scott. He's always like that."

"Does he have a criminal record?" Haley asked.

Brooke laughed, "Not that I know of. I promise he's not as bad as he seems. Here we are, Clementine Building."

Haley's jaw dropped as she scanned the massive building in front of her. The building was extremely tall, pristine white brick and white trimming. There were marble pillars outside at the large wooden entrance to the building. Ivy had wrapped itself around the building. It was beautiful, but felt a little suffocating. Haley wondered briefly if the vines would end up snaking through her window and suffocating her in the night. They walked into the building and Haley was momentarily stunned again. Crisp white and dark wood interior. They had walked into the common area of the building. This consisted of endless comfy dark leather couches, televisions, a kitchen, and a pool and foosball table. There were two large spiralling staircases that Haley assumed led to the dorm rooms.

"One leads to the boy's side of the dorm rooms, and one leads to the girl's side." Brooke explained. "However, we are exceptionally lucky as we have the room that boarders on the start of the boy's rooms."

Haley then started to follow her up the right staircase. They walked pass lots of girls loading their things into their rooms. Brooke waved at a few people as they continued down the corridor. They finally reached the room that had the number 114 on the dark wood displayed in silver numbering. Brooke opened the door and Haley stepped into the room that would be hers for the next year.

She was surprised at how large the room actually was. "It's bigger than the other rooms as we have to fit three people in here." Brooke said.

There were three beds positioned in different sections of the room. A large chest of draws at the base of each one, and two doors that Haley could see lead to a bathroom and a large walk in wardrobe. One bed already looked like an explosion had gone off on it, as literally hundreds of outfits were littered on the fluffy pink comforter. The bed at the back of the room near the left wall was bare and Haley could spot her trunks sitting on it. The last bed was considerably darker than the other sections of the room, and was covered in a dark plaid comforter and the curly blonde girl sitting cross legged on it was sorting through her records.

"Peyton!" Brooke exclaimed.

The girl looked up immediately and smiled slightly when she saw Haley. "Good to see you James. It's been a while." She embraced Haley in a hug.

As Peyton was Brooke's best friend, Haley had hung out with her in the summers when she visited as a child. However, as she hadn't been back in Tree Hill for a while she hadn't seen Peyton in years.

Just as Haley pulled away movement at the doorway to the room caught her attention. A red head was stalking past their room and when she caught the three girls looking she pinched up her face unattractively and flipped them off before storming away.

"Wow, Satan has taken residence in that one." Haley remarked.

Peyton laughed as Brooke continued looking at the door with an enraged expression on her face, "Fucking bicycle!"

"Bicycle?" Haley questioned.

"Yeah," Brooke replied, "Because everyone gets a ride."

"Says you Davis." Peyton teased.

"At least I have morals." Brooke replied.

"Brooke and Rachel don't get along." Peyton clarified.

"No shit." Haley whispered, both of them looking to where Brooke had fumed over to her bed and was angrily packing stuff away whilst mumbling under her breath.

Haley walked over to her bed intending to unpack her things. She then noticed that the zipper on the side of one of her trunks was slightly unzipped. She quickly pulled the trunk onto her bed and quickly opened it. She immediately located the destroyed piece of clothing in her bag. It had been stained in what looked like grape juice and permanent marker and had been cut into a million pieces by someone who kind of sucked at using scissors. _Not the poncho!_ She inwardly screeched. Haley reached forward and ripped the pink post it note off her destroyed article of clothing.

 _Welcome to Tree Hill Academy!  
xoxo Rachel_

"Satan!" Haley exclaimed angrily, scrunching the post it note up in her hands and throwing it on the ground.

Welcome to Tree Hill Academy. This year was going to suck.

 **So that was the very first chapter!  
** **I'll try to update soon.  
This is my first fanfiction, so let me know what you think!**

 **-Rosie**


	2. I don't believe in love at first sight

**Chapter 2: I don't believe in love at first sight, but I believe in annoyed at first sight.**

It took Haley an hour before she finally admitted to herself that she was lost.

Undoubtedly looking around the school by herself hadn't been her brightest idea. However, after Rachel's welcoming gift she had decided to clear her mind. Unfortunately she couldn't find her way back to the Clementine Building, and had left her phone in her room.

Haley sighed and decided to simply take in her surroundings. She had actually travelled to a portion of the school that wasn't filled with people. This school was literally as big as a small country. She could see a large apple tree amongst the grassy fields, there was a small children's playground that looked like it hadn't been used in years. Why they had that here was beyond her. The only other thing Haley could spot was a basketball court and she breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted someone shooting hoops on the court. Their hood was up so she couldn't see their face, and she started to make her was towards them.

Unfortunately for her as soon as she neared the boy, the basketball he had shot at the hoop bounced off the backboard and hit her in the face. She made a whimper of protest as she got knocked to the ground.

"Holy shit are you okay?" A deep voice asked sounding concerned.

The voice got given a face as someone leant over where Haley was lying down. She blinked away her swimming vision and had to keep herself from freaking out when she recognized the guy from the fight. _Nathan Scott._ He looked different without being covered in blood. That was probably a good thing.

She lowered her gaze and realised that Nathan was holding out his hand towards her. She ignored his outstretched hand and pushed herself off the ground. "I'm fine." Haley murmured, brushing off her skirt.

Nathan stared in apprehension at the petite golden blonde haired girl in front of him. An unnatural feeling of concern spread through his body. She really wasn't very big, could he was caused her to have a concussion?

"Why are you staring at me?" Haley asked, officially freaked out.

"Are you sure you're okay." Nathan asked again, starting to scan her body for injuries.

"I told you I'm fine." Haley responded, leaning down to pick up the basketball before tossing it back to Nathan with little force.

Nathan caught the ball easily, "I'm Nathan Scott." He held out his hand. Haley glared at it momentarily before he withdrew it.

"Haley James." She responded avoiding his gaze, her head was really starting to hurt.

"Let me take you back to your dorm." Nathan said. He wasn't sure why he was so worried about this girl, he also didn't know why she seemed to dislike him so much.

Haley wanted to argue that she didn't need this delinquent's assistance, but she wasn't an idiot. For starters he probably knew the way to her building and secondly she was terrified she would pass out suddenly and no one would find her until she died and started to rot.

"You look unscratched." She spoke suddenly, "I heard the other guy walked away with a broken nose."

"He deserved it." Nathan responded instantly. So that's where he recognized her from, he had seen her at the fight.

"So Haley I've never seen you around before are you new?" Nathan asked changing the subject.

"Yeah, I've never been to a boarding school before." Haley replied, she still didn't trust this guy but it would be better to talk than an awkward silence.

"Well it's great if you want to get away from your family, that's the reason I signed up." Nathan said truthfully.

"Me too." Haley responded, that really had been the deal breaker for why she had decided to take the scholarship.

Nathan looked at her in surprise when she spoke, but then quickly turned away and started to bounce his basketball as they walked.

Haley almost cried in relief when she spotted another human. They weren't going to be lost forever. However, that feeling of relief quickly diminished when she spotted Rachel walking towards them.

"Oh fuck." Haley breathed. Nathan looked at her in surprise and then followed her line of vision to Rachel's approaching figure.

"Oh fuck." He mimicked.

Luckily she didn't stop to talk to them. She simply winked in Nathan's direction before sending Haley a disgusted glare and continuing.

"You don't like Rachel?" Nathan asked, wondering how she knew her.

"She broke into my bag and cut up my poncho." Haley pouted, still upset about her poncho.

"Seriously?" Nathan questioned. It seemed Rachel would never stop being a bitch.

"I saw her wink at you," Haley said fiddling with her sweater as they walked into the Clementine Building, "Are you two dating?" That would make sense, she thought, they both don't seem like very great people. However, despite having aggression issues and an overinflated ego Nathan didn't seem that bad.

"God no." Nathan responded.

"Not a relationship kind of guy?" Haley questioned.

Nathan grinned, "I'd rather slam my head in a car door."

"Was that an offer?" She replied smugly. Mentally high fiving herself when his jaw dropped open in surprise.

"Well played James." Nathan said, he was actually quite impressed.

Haley smiled slightly, "Well this is me." She stopped outside her closed dorm room.

A look of shock took place on Nathan's features before his lips turned up into a smirk, "I guess I'll be seeing you around then neighbour."

Huh? Haley looked at him in confusion as she watched him walk a few paces to the next door in the corridor and open it. He then turned to wink at her and walked inside.

No way.

* * *

"So this is the Dining Hall." Brooke said, as the three girls walked into the exceptionally large building. There were round tables littered across the room and a stage at the end of the room.

Brooke led them over to a table by the window. Like all the other tables it had a white lace tablecloth covering it, elegant silverware and a large flower centrepiece. There were six chairs at the table.

"This school is insane." Haley murmured to herself.

She then noticed that one of the chairs had a small white card on it that read her name.

"Are the tables assigned?" She asked.

"No, we get to request who we sit with." Peyton smiled as she took her seat.

Haley sat down and smoothed out her dress. Apparently they didn't let you into the dining hall unless you wore fancy attire. Brooke had said that the last person who wore normal clothes to dinner was expelled. Haley knew she was exaggerating, but the message was still clear.

"So who are the other three people?" Haley asked. She already knew Nathan was one of them, as she could see the paper card on the placing next to her. She had considered swapping it, but she knew her friends would question her if she did.

"Nathan, who was the guy in the fight." Brooke said.

"Already?" Peyton questioned, Brooke rolled her eyes and nodded her head.

"Then there are Lucas Scott and Jake Jagielski." Peyton said.

"Scott?" Haley questioned, "Are him and Nathan related."

"Half-brothers." Peyton clarified.

"What are they like?" Haley asked, curious to know what the people she would apparently be sharing a table with for the year were like.

"They're both great guys." Brooke said, "Hot too. Especially Lucas."

Haley laughed, "He your boyfriend?"

"Not yet," Brooke replied, "But give it time."

Haley smiled at her friend's confidence and cocked her head in confusion when she saw Peyton staring at her lap as she picked at her black nail polish with her eyebrows knotted together. Peyton looked up and caught Haley staring at her. Peyton immediately smiled, the conflicted expression wiped from her face.

"Hello ladies." A voice filled the air.

"Jagielski." Peyton replied, as he hugged both her and Brooke.

The shaggy brown haired boy took a seat as Haley spotted a tall blonde boy approaching the table. He suddenly leaped forward and grabbed Brooke's shoulders causing her to squeal.

"Luke you prick!" She exclaimed, before throwing her arms around his broad shoulders. She pulled back moments later grinning before Lucas turned and pulled Peyton into tight hug.

"Are you going to introduce us to our new table mate?" Jake asked, smiling kindly at Haley.

"Hello new girl!" Lucas exclaimed, walking around the table and shaking Haley's hand overenthusiastically.

"Guys this the girl I was telling you about in the summer." Brooke said smiling at Haley, "The one I've known practically forever."

"So new girl you got a name?" Lucas asked, as he took a seat.

"Haley James we meet again." A voice Haley immediately recognized filled her ears.

"Nathan…again." Haley replied, "It must be my lucky day." The sarcasm was thick in her tone.

"How's your head." Nathan asked, the worry evident in his voice.

"Fine, no thanks to you." Haley replied, she felt bad for a moment for being so snarky, "I'm fine I swear." She said softer this time.

"You guys know each other?" Brooke asked suddenly, her voice thick with disbelief.

"Yeah he knocked me over with a basketball." Haley said.

Lucas snorted with laughter, "Well played Nate."

"Shut up." Nathan grumbled, glaring at his brother before sitting down.

"Did you get in trouble for the fight?" Peyton asked.

"Yeah I have to clean up my attitude apparently." Nathan responded, "My life sucks."

"Tragically hard." Lucas teased.

"It is." Nathan responded, causing Lucas to stop laughing because he knew it actually was.

Haley chuckled softly causing the table to look at her, "Besides organized sports and getting laid, what do you actually do?"

"The two things you just named are difficult." Nathan smirked.

"I mean all you do is put a ball through hoops." Haley said, tugging one of her blonde curls.

"You can just call it basketball Haley." Nathan quipped.

"I wasn't talking about basketball." She replied quickly. Lucas and Peyton both choked on the water they had been drinking as they started shaking with laughter.

It took him a second before the full meaning of her statement sunk in, "Twice in one day Haley, seems I need to improve my game."

"Alright students settle down please." The exited chatter of the room slowed before coming to a stop.

The man who was now standing up of the stage continued into the microphone, "For the freshman and new students my name is Principal Turner, and I am the head of this fine institute."

"More like institution." Nathan murmured, and Haley had to stifle a laugh at the truth in that statement.

"As I want all of you to rise to the best of your ability, I am going to go over the basic rules for the new students. Firstly, all students must attend school. No hiding out in dorm rooms."

"We almost got away with it." Brooke muttered.

"Curfew is 10pm on weekdays. 12pm on weekends for freshmen and sophomores, and 1am for juniors and seniors."

"Finally upgraded to the 1am status." Lucas said.

"As if you followed it anyway." Peyton chided in return.

"Formal dress attire is compulsory for all students during evening meals." Principal Turner continued. "Remember to sign out on weekends before leaving. And freshmen and sophomores require a note from a parental figure before leaving."

"All students are required to attend Friday night varsity basketball games when they are in our gym."

"Is he allowed to do that?" Haley asked outraged. She was going have to spend three hours cramped up in a gym, every time there was a stupid basketball game.

"And finally no students staying in a student of the opposite genders dorm room overnight." Principal Turner finished, ignoring the booing he was receiving from several people in the audience.

"Damn Haley that ruins our plans for tonight." Nathan joked, the smirk still present on his face.

"What a shame." She responded sarcastically.

"Before I leave you all to eat could I have the captain of the basketball team Nathan Scott onstage to present him with the trophy for coming second in last year's championship game?" Principal Turner asked.

"Damn that's good." Haley said.

"Not good enough." Nathan responded, before standing up and moving over to the stage to receive the trophy. Loud applause filled the room as well as multiple ear piercing whistles.

"Can we also have the students that are new to the sophomore, junior and senior years on stage?" Principal Turner continued.

Haley's blood turned to ice in her veins as she realized that was here, "Shit!" She exclaimed, "I can't do this, I'm a major klutz I'm going to fall on my face."

"You'll be fine," Brooke soothed, "Go now Hales." She pushed her a little towards the stage.

Haley could see a skinny sophomore boy and girl take place on the stage near Principal Turner and Nathan. A busty senior girl walked onto the stage just as Haley neared it. She took a deep face before taking the first two steps leading to the stage. This was working, she was doing great. Just as she thought that she took the final step, her shoe caught on the top of the stair and she tripped and fell directly on her face.

"Shit she jinxed it." Brooke exclaimed in concern from their table, as the air filled with a mixture of gasps and laughs.

Haley lay on the ground in silence for a moment. She made sure she still had all her vital organ before turning over so she was sitting instead of lying. She pushed her hair off her face, just in time to hear a loud cackle fill the air.

"Well looks like the whore walks almost as bad as she looks." Haley recognized Rachel's patronizing voice immediately. The group of girls sitting around her broke into a string of unintelligent giggles.

"Shut the hell up Rachel!" Nathan's voice made everyone who was laughing in the hall stop immediately. She looked up in his direction, _damn he looks mad_.

She was mad as well. Cool it Haley, you are in front of the entire school. _Oh screw it._ "Well at least it doesn't look like someone set my face on fire and tried to put it out with a fork."

Rachel's jaw dropped in shock, and her friends were looking between her and Haley with an array of happiness and fear on their faces.

"You going to leave me hanging again?" Nathan asked. Haley looked up and saw he has his hand extended in her direction. She weighed her options for a moment before grabbing Nathan's hand in hers and allowing him to haul her off the ground.

"Okay well on that lovely note, let's eat." Principal Turner took the microphone again. Where the heck was he when Haley was being ripped apart by Rachel?

Nathan jumped off the stage, before taking Haley's hand again and helping her down. That walked back to the table in silence, Nathan glaring at every person who snickered at Haley.

"Just so you know this doesn't make us friends." Haley said, looking up at Nathan.

Nathan grinned at her, "Thank god. I couldn't think of anything worse."

Sure, he was a pompous ass, but looking back on it the truth was, he could have been a complete gentleman and she didn't think it would have made a difference.

 **So Nathan and Haley properly met! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.  
** **Thank you so much for all the reviews on the last chapter!  
It means so much that people are enjoying this story.  
I've decided that I will be updating this story around this time every week.  
If you have any questions, feel free to pm me. **

**-Rosie**


	3. I push people away, that's my thing

**AN: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed last chapter. I'm really glad people are enjoying this story. In term's of the whole Brucas/Leyton issue, I was planning on having Brooke and Lucas date at the start of the story, and Peyton harbor feelings for him. However, I wasn't sure what couple I was going to end the story with as I'm getting mixed messages. So let know.**

 **Chapter 3:**

"So Miss James, we need to discuss some requirements of your scholarship."

"Of course." Haley responded. It was the first day of classes, but she was already missing part of the first period to talk with Principal Turner in his office. His office, like everything in this school, looked prestigious and regal.

"Now I am aware that you are here on a full academic scholarship." Principal Turner said, "However, at this school we like all round participation from our students. And we require it from out scholarship students."

"So I need to join some extracurricular activities?" Haley asked, a feeling of dread starting to seep through her body.

"Yes," Principal Turner replied, "Will that be a problem?"

"Not at all." Haley lied. _Despite the fact that I'm severely athletically challenged!_

"Alright then Miss James, you can head to your first class now."

"Thank you sir." Haley said, standing up from the leather chair opposite Principal Turner's desk and walking out of the room.

She had Algebra first period in room 18. However, after walking around for a couple minutes she realized that the doors didn't actually have numbering on them.

"You've got to be kidding me." She murmured to herself.

Deciding that the most logical way to find the classroom would be to count the doors leading up to eighteen, she walked back to the start of the corridor and walked up it counting the doors until she reached number 18.

She turned the doorknob on the door and walked into the classroom. She immediately knew it wasn't where she was supposed to be as she could see science related posters littering the room. She scanned the classroom and made brief eye contact with Nathan who raised an eyebrow at her in question.

"Can I help you with something Miss?" The teacher asked, pausing what they had been saying to the class to talk to her.

Haley shook her head a little spastically if she did say so herself, "I'm good thanks." She then practically sprinted out of the classroom.

She spent the next ten minutes checking so many classrooms that she had lost track of which ones she had checked and which ones she hadn't. She knocked on another door and slowly walked into the classroom praying that this time it would be the right one.

"You've got to be kidding me." Haley muttered to herself, as she immediately recognized the classroom she had first walked into.

It seems they recognized her as well, as quite a few members of the class broke into laughter at her misfortune. She noticed Rachel was at the head of this, sneering at her cruelly from her desk.

"Do you need help?" The teacher asked, this time sounding quite mean and exasperated.

Suddenly everything she wanted to say left her head, and she felt her face burn up with embarrassment. Haley had never had trouble talking to people before this school, it wasn't her fault these people stressed her out.

"I'll take her to her class." Nathan's voice pulled Haley out of her dying embarrassment.

"You will not Mr Scott." The teacher said cruelly, "You're already failing this subject. Missing class is not going to help that. Someone else can take her."

"That's fine I'll take her." Nathan responded, glaring at the teacher before standing up and walking over to where Haley was positioned.

"Mr Scott," The teacher's voice was tight with exasperation, "Can you find a way to sit your ass back in that chair or will I have to give you detention?"

"I don't know Mr Palmer." Nathan replied, "Can you find a way to shut your mouth, or will we have to use duct tape." He then turned to face Haley and gestured for her to leave the classroom before following her out and slamming the door behind him.

"You didn't have to do that." Haley said, as they started to walk down the corridor.

"Anything to get out of Biology." Nathan smiled at her. A genuine smile, not an egotistical smirk or a fake plastered on grin. She found it really hard to hate him when he smiled at her like that.

"So what room number are you in?" He asked. Haley handed him her sheet of classes and he started to chuckle as soon as he saw it.

"What?" She asked.

"Room 18 is on the next floor." Nathan replied.

"Are you serious?" Haley exclaimed, "There's another floor?"

"Yep," Nathan led her to a set of stairs and started walking up them, "Hey I'm sorry about Rachel and her friends they can be serious bitches."

"Don't worry I've known my fair share of carbon copied Rachel's." Haley responded.

"You been to a lot of schools?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah." She said softly, "This will be my nineteenth high school."

"Are you serious?" He asked in disbelief.

"My mum hates staying in the same place." Haley clarified, "Once I only stayed in a school for four days before we moved."

"You got siblings?" Nathan asked, curious to find out more about this girl.

"Six." Haley responded, her tone sounded almost sad and Nathan couldn't pinpoint why.

"Well here we are." He gestured to the door they had stopped in front of, "Room 18."

"Thank you Nathan." Haley murmured, before walking into the classroom without looking back.

Not even once.

* * *

The last period for the day had just finished and Haley had just reached her dorm room with both Brooke and Peyton.

"You guys, Principal Turner told me I have to join some extracurricular activities." Haley groaned, as she plopped down onto her bed.

"This is perfect!" Brooke squealed.

"Explain?" Haley questioned.

"We have an open spot on the cheer squad." Brooke explained excitedly, "You should totally join!"

Haley scrunched up her face, "I don't think so Brooke. I have two left feet, cheerleading would not be my thing."

"You'll enjoy it!" Brooke said, "Peyton thought she would hate it but she likes it now."

Haley looked at Peyton for confirmation, "It's not that horrible." She confessed.

"Ugh fine." Haley agreed, knowing there would be no point in arguing with her friend. Brooke always ended up getting what she wanted. "But you guys have to join another sport with me as well."

"Deal!" Brooke squealed.

Peyton nodded as well tossing Haley the booklet which showed every sport the school offered, "Pick one."

"Girlies, we need to discuss something." Brooke said, fixing up her lipstick in the mirror.

"What?" Haley questioned, as she started to look through the booklet.

"Boys." Brooke said, "We need to find someone for you Peyton."

"Why me?" Peyton asked, sitting up on her bed so she could look at Brooke properly.

Brooke popped her lips, "Because I guarantee you in a few weeks I will have Lucas Scott." Haley noticed Peyton screw up her face slightly at Brooke's statement. "And Haley has that thing going on with Nathan."

"Wait what?" Haley objected loudly.

"Don't deny it Haley James, I'm good at predicting these things." Brooke responded.

"I do not like Nathan. I barely know the guy. He could be a serial killer." Haley said.

"But he's not, and you know that." Brooke said. "Anyway we can fight about this later. What about Jake?" She turned to Peyton.

"Jake and I are just friends." Peyton murmured.

"What about that guy in our History class?" Brooke asked, obviously not giving up, "Oliver?"

"He's kind of a tool." Haley piped up, she had met Oliver today, "Just an observation." She held up her hands in defeat when Brooke glared at her.

"He is not a tool." She protested.

"He's a tool." Peyton confirmed.

"He is not!" Brooke screeched.

"He waxes his chest hair." Haley said, another thing she had observed about Oliver.

"He's captain of the swim team thank you very much." Brooke said.

Haley and Peyton exchanged a quick look before they broke into snickers.

"Guys I want to do Lacrosse." Haley said, finally decided on the sport she wanted to do.

"Alright I'll go sign us up." Peyton said, jumping up from her bed looking glad for an excuse to leave the room.

"I'm going to head over to the library to do some work. You want to come?" Haley asked Brooke as she picked up her textbooks.

"Oh Hales, I don't study." Brooke said, "I'm going to go find Lucas."

She said goodbye to Brooke before leaving the Clementine Building and heading in the direction of the library. The library at this school was massive, four levels, each jammed with bookshelves, tables, and couches. Unfortunately for her the second level which she needed to be on to get books for her History assignment was packed.

She could see one table that was crammed near the back by some bookshelves that only had one person on it. As the neared the table she realized the person sitting at the table was Nathan. She down on the opposite side of the table to him.

He didn't say a word and neither did she.

Hour 1.

Haley was five seconds away from completely snapping. For the past hour Haley had been trying to finish her history homework, but wasn't even halfway through it thanks to Nathan.

She hadn't even seen him pick up a pen, all he had been doing for the past hour was loudly scrunching up pieces of paper and chucking them at the bin across the room. Of course they went in every time. Damn him and his basketball ability.

Now he had decided that he wanted to chomp through a massive bag of corn chips.

"Okay," Haley slammed her book down on the table ignoring the death glares she received from other students in the vicinity, "What the hell dude!"

"What?" Nathan looked up at her in confusion. Haley gestured wildly to the chips in his hand. He followed her gaze and then held out the bag to her, "Do you want one?"

"No I don't want one." Haley exclaimed, once again receiving glares. How come they had no problem when Nathan was loud?! "I want to finish my homework, but I can't if you won't shut up."

"Okay I'll be quiet." He replied, putting the bag of chips down.

"Thank you." She sighed.

A few seconds later a massive slurping sound caused her head to snap up.

Nathan smirked at her and took another sip of his Coca-Cola.

"God give me strength." Haley murmured to herself, using all her restraint to not throw her pen at him.

Hour 2.

The loud moan caused Haley to once again grimace in disgust. It had been easy to ignore the first time, but after ten minutes it became very obvious that there were two people shagging each other in the bookshelf next to the table she was at.

Nathan was sitting across from her making what looked like a math worksheet into a paper plane and trying extremely hard not to crack up.

She blushed a deep red as another moan was elicited from behind the shelf, it was followed quickly by a muffled squeal that cause Haley to drop her calculator. "Oh my god, I can't believe this is happening." She whispered.

"You okay Haley? You look like you're going to pass out." Nathan asked in amusement, as the blonde girl across from him flushed deeper and narrowed her eyes at him before sticking her tongue out at him childishly.

"Does this usually happen?" She whispered leaning forward.

"More often than you would think." Nathan replied.

"Ew you've totally done it in this library haven't you." Haley asked, her face screwing up in disgust.

"Done what Haley?" Nathan teased. He knew exactly what she was talking about, but he thoroughly enjoying annoying her and he knew she wouldn't say the word.

"You know!" She whisper yelled, pointing her ruler at him in what she hoped was a threatening manner.

"I am appalled that you think of me that way." He placed his hand over his chest in mock hurt.

"Please you've slept with more people than a bed." Haley retorted.

He burst out into loud laughter that only grew when she glared at him again.

Hour 3.

Haley had just made her third trip back to the table with another stack of books. She probably had around 25 sitting in piles on the table. That was another good thing about this school, since they had so much money they had a really good book collection.

She sat down in her chair, picked up a book and started reading. When she had reached the seventh chapter she glanced up briefly in Nathan's direction.

He was cramped over what looked like actual math homework. His face was twisted into a pained and confused expression, he actually looked like this homework was causing him physical pain. After a few minutes of watching him squint at the page in confusion Haley couldn't help it. She had been trying to ignore the part of her that wanted to help him but it eventually won out. Despite the fact that Nathan aggravated her endlessly, she had been a tutor at quite a few of her old schools and it was her natural instinct to want to help someone who didn't understand their school work.

"Do you want me to help you?" She asked suddenly, causing Nathan to spring up slightly in his chair.

"No it's fine." He dismissed, looking down at his page. "I won't do good anyway."

"Well." Haley responded.

"Well what?" He looked at her in confusion.

"It's do well not good. But seriously, let me help." Haley had made up her mind and she was going to help him with this whether he wanted her assitance or not.

She walked around the table and sat on the chair next to him. He looked at her briefly for a moment before sliding the sheet over in her direction.

"Okay so all you need to do in this problem is find x." Haley pointed to the problem on the paper. She did the problem, then repeated it showing all the steps to Nathan slowly. "Now you do the next one."

Nathan picked up the pen in his hand and spent the next ten minutes doing the problem, "24 that's correct." Haley smiled at him.

She then got back up and walked over to her side of the desk. Nathan wished the teacher's in his classes explained how to do the problems as well as Haley did, then he might not be failing every subject.

Hour 4.

It was fifteen minutes until ten when Nathan decided to finally leave the library. He had packed up all his things and was reaching for his last exercise book when he realized Haley was asleep. She had her head resting on her arms and she was positioned on top of his book.

He didn't want to wake her at all, she looked really cute when she was asleep. Oh god, did he just call her cute. What was happening to him?

Nathan stood up and crossed over to Haley's side of the desk.

"Haley." He said, shaking her arm softly.

She groaned and turned her head away from him.

"Hales, you have to wake up." He tried again, "If you don't wake up you'll get detention."

This statement cause Haley to rocket up from her sleeping position, "Huh." Her eyes were still half closed and she had a strand of her blonde hair stuck to her face. Nathan mentally scolded himself when he had the overwhelming urge to tuck the hair behind her ear.

"The library is closing in fifteen minutes." Nathan explained.

"Oh," Haley stood up and started to pack up her things. She then realized that there was absolutely no way she would be able to carry all these books unless she had a trolley.

"I'll take half of them." Nathan said, reaching over and picking up the larger stack of Haley's books. "We are neighbours after all."

They walked back in silence to their building. However, it wasn't an uncomfortable silence and Haley chose not to overanalyse this.

When they reached Haley's dorm room, she rested her books on her hip as she scrounged through her bag for her key. Pulling it out she managed to open the door to her room without dropping anything.

"You can just put them by my bed." She said. Nathan nodded and walked through the room to place the books near Haley's floral print bed.

"Hi Nathan." Peyton's amused voice filled the air as Haley placed her books down beside the others.

"Hey Peyton." Nathan waved at his friend before turning and winking at Haley, "Bye Haley."

Haley rolled her eyes, "Bye Nathan."

He waved at both of them before leaving the room. Haley turned to Peyton who was staring at her with raised eyebrows.

"I got too many books at the library." She explained.

"I can see that." Peyton chuckled.

"Nathan was the only one there." Haley defended herself.

"Hey I wasn't accusing you of anything." Peyton responded, the amused expression still on her face.

"Where's Brooke?" Haley asked, realizing her friend wasn't in the room, "It's almost curfew."

"Um she went to hang out with Lucas." Peyton murmured, fiddling with a loose strand on her comforter.

Haley walked over to Peyton's bed and plopped down beside her, "Are you going to tell me about this or what?"

"What?" Peyton asked softly.

"Peyton, I know you like Lucas." Haley finally spoke what had been on her mind since yesterday, "You might not be as vocal about it as Brooke but I can tell."

For a moment Peyton looked like she was going to deny it, but then sighed, "It sucks Haley. Brooke's been my friend for years and she can't even tell that I like him. And Lucas totally likes Brooke, and I'm happy for her really I am. But it just hurts so much when I see them together."

"What happened between you and Lucas?" Haley asked gently.

"We've been friends forever, and then at the end of last year we had a brief fling. It was short lived and no one knows. I ended it. I wasn't ready." Peyton said. "And now that I am, he's moved on."

"I'm sorry Peyt." Haley murmured, "You can talk to me about it whenever you want. Brooke may be my friend but you are too."

"Thanks Haley." Peyton replied, pulling her friend into a hug.

"Of course." She responded, smiling kindly at her friend.

The door then swung open loudly, and slammed against the wall.

"Close one Davis." Haley said, "You made it with a minute to spare."

"Oh thank god." Brooke collapsed on her bed. She then sat up and looked at her friends, "Get ready girlies, it's going to be a good year."

 **AN: Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you thought :)**

 **-Rosie**


	4. Sunshine mixed with a little hurricane

**Chapter 4: Sunshine mixed with a little hurricane.**

"Coach Durham if a lion and grizzly bear got into a fight to the death. Which one would win?" Nathan asked, hitting his pencil on the table repeatedly.

Haley really wanted hit him on the head with a brick repeatedly.

"I don't see how this has anything to do with History, Scott." Whitey responded glaring at Nathan, "As that is the subject I teach."

Haley took her grades extremely seriously and Nathan had already wasted the first twenty minutes of their class distracting Coach Durham with completely stupid and irrelevant questions. He had also been high-fiving her every time she had put her hand up to answer a question.

Every. Single. Time.

"The bear would win." Haley said getting sick of hearing Nathan and Coach Durham argue, "Not only does the grizzly bear have a larger weight and mass, its extensive stamina means it could fight for hours on end whilst the lion would be tired in minutes."

Nathan smirked at her actually quite impressed, "Wow Hales I didn't realize you were such a nerd."

Haley scoffed, "I prefer the term intellectual badass. And I swear to god if you do not stop asking stupid questions I will fight you."

"Mr Scott and Miss James would you please be quiet." Whitey said. However, he was ignored by both Nathan and Haley who were too invested in their argument to pay attention.

"Please," Nathan retorted, "I could beat you easily. I'm like a foot taller than you."

"Well I'm smarter." Haley quipped.

"I'm older." Nathan remarked.

"I'm faster." Haley said.

"I'm stronger." Nathan responded.

"Prove it." Haley said.

"Mr Scott and Miss James!" Whitey yelled, interrupting the fight that everyone had been watching like a tennis match since it had started. "Please wait outside the classroom, I will be out in a moment."

Haley scowled at Nathan before shoving past him and walking out of the classroom with Nathan on her heels. The sound of their continued arguing could be heard from inside the classroom.

"Are they still arguing?" Whitey asked incredulously.

"It seems so Coach." Lucas said, chuckling softly along with Brooke, Peyton and Jake who were all seated in the classroom.

"All of you turn to page 5 of the text book and answer the questions on the bottom." Whitey said, before walking out of the classroom.

As soon as he exited the classroom both Nathan and Haley turned to him ready to protest. "Not a word you two. Detention, tonight."

* * *

"Haley James, at detention, what a surprise." Nathan drawled, leaning against the wall with his hands shoved in the pockets of his letterman jacket.

"Shut up," She glowered at him, "This is the first detention I've ever had. It's going to go on my permanent record, and then I'll never get a job, or have a good future, or a happy life."

"Okay," Nathan said slowly, "Good to see you haven't overthought this."

"Name?" The teacher in charge of marking the names off for detention asked Haley.

"Haley James." She replied.

"Oh yes," The teacher said, "You, along with Nathan Scott have been requested in Coach Durham's office."

"Can he do that?" Nathan asked in disbelief.

"Since you screwed up in his class, yes he can."

When they reached Coach Durham's office Haley took a deep breath before entering.

"Well well if it isn't the two causes of my countless headaches." Whitey said. Haley started to wring her hands together nervously, whilst Nathan was staring out the window with a bored expression on his face, "Your arguing has been continuously interrupting the class for the past few lessons. Nathan you need to stop picking on Miss James, and Miss James you need to stop insulting Mr Scott."

"I was not insulting him. I was describing him." Haley replied.

"As I was staying." Whitey continued sternly fixing Haley with a pointed glare, "You two need to learn to get along. Do you know how much I love theatre?"

"What?!" Nathan asked, pretty sure he'd misheard.

"Theatre Scott keep up." Whitey said. He started to pace around the room dramatically, "The hushed whispers, the stories portrayed by emotions, the meaning able to be depicted with only a few words."

Haley and Nathan watched him with a mixture of amusement and creeped out expressions.

"The freshman musical is coming up, and I, as a lover of the theatre am in charge of it." Whitey continued. "However, we have no one to help get it prepared and to help backstage. That's where you two come in."

Haley and Nathan exchanged a horrified look.

"For the next few weeks, whenever I need help you two will be assisting me in making this musical great." Whitey said, "No arguing Scott, and Miss James you can breathe again this won't be going on your permanent record."

"Can't we just have detention?" Nathan asked, "I don't think you can do this."

"Well I just did."

* * *

While most other students were spending their evening relaxing in their dorms or hanging out with their friends, Nathan and Haley were spending it crammed in the printing room attempting to print out 84 copies of the script for every freshman in the musical.

They had been sentenced to printer duty when they had gotten into an exceptionally large fight at the last rehearsal, which had consisted of Haley dragging a chair over so she could yell at Nathan 'on the same level'.

"This stupid printer won't print anything else." Haley exclaimed in exasperation. They only had 57 copies so far, and Nathan was in no way helping. He was currently spinning in circles on the office chair and throwing a basketball over his head every five seconds.

Haley hit the printer in frustration hoping that this would make it work. To her horror it made a loud wailing sound before spitting out hundreds of sheets of blank paper and shutting off.

The sound of Nathan spinning on the chair came to a stop and she felt him come and stand beside her.

"Did you just kill the printer?" Nathan asked, holding back a laugh at Haley's dismayed expression.

"It offended me." She mumbled in defence, "Please don't…" She trailed off, actually looking quite upset at herself.

"Hey chill," Nathan said, "I won't tell anyone. We'll just tell coach that the printer ran out of paper so this was all we could get."

Haley flashed him a small smile as they each picked up half of the scripts and they headed back to the auditorium.

"Are you dating Jackson Grey?" Nathan asked, as they neared the printer. He didn't think so, but he needed to hear it from her to be certain.

"What? No!" Haley exclaimed, "I don't think I've even talked to the guy. Why?"

"He was just telling the whole team about how he was dating you." Nathan explained.

"Are you serious?" She said. _What a prick!_

"Don't worry I told him he was dreaming." Nathan said, "Aren't you going to ask _me_ if I'm dating someone?" He teased.

"Nope," She responded popping the p, "Because that would imply that I care."

"That one hurt Hales." He placed his hand mockingly over his heart, "Right here."

"Drop the scripts here." Whitey yelled as they entered the theatre, "Mr Scott you're on lights, Miss James you are on set changing."

 _Damn it_ , Haley internally groaned. The freshman musical was Romeo and Juliet and most of the set pieces were bigger than her body.

The run through was going well until it was time for Haley to change the first set. She ran out onto the blackened stage and was mid pushing a table off the table when all the stage lights turned back on. She could see Nathan smirking at her from the light box. _That jerk._

She flushed a deep magenta when she realized that everyone's eyes were on her and she continued attempting to shove the table off the stage. Eventually she got it off the stage and Haley welcomed the darkness as the next scene started.

There were eight more set changes she had to do, and she knew Nathan was going to mess with the lights on every single one.

Welcome to hell.

* * *

"Alright butt wipes that brings Lacrosse practice to an end." Their passive aggressive coach yelled flipping her hair over her shoulder and leaving the field.

Lacrosse was actually quite fun. Something about running around a field wielding a massive stick that could cause someone immense pain felt empowering.

"See you at the basketball game loser." A snobby voice sneered in her ear, directly before Haley was shoved harshly into the dirt.

"Oh fuck off Rachel." Haley groaned, as Rachel ran off laughing with her dim-witted friends. Unfortunately, Rachel and her friends were also on the Lacrosse team. That was a serious downer.

"I'm going to melt that bitch!" Brooke growled, as her and Peyton knelt down to help Haley off the ground.

"Well at least there's no blood this time." Haley pointed out, this hadn't been the first time in the past few weeks that she had been pushed over by Rachel.

"We have to go get ready." Brooke said, "The basketball game starts in half an hour."

"You nervous?" Peyton asked, bumping her shoulder against Haley's as they walked back to their dorms.

"About what? Wearing a skimpy outfit, hanging out with bitchy girls I hate and cheering for a game I don't enjoy. Nah, I'm choosing to remain optimistic." Haley responded.

"I can see that." Peyton chuckled.

Half an hour later Haley was standing beside Brooke and Peyton at the basketball game waiting for it to start. The stands were flooded with people, students and teachers alike. The stand across from them was filled with students wearing red from St. Michaels Academy.

In the change rooms the boys were getting ready to walk out in a few minutes.

"Remember boys, team work is key if you want to win." Whitey finished off his pep talk.

"Ready to win?" Lucas asked.

"Let's crush them." Nathan responded, as they started to walk out to the court. The deafening sound of cheers filled his ears as soon as they entered the gym. He almost did a double stake when he spotted Haley standing on the sidelines in a cheerleading outfit.

"Haley's a cheerleader?" Nathan asked in surprise.

Lucas and Jake followed his gaze, "I guess Brooke and Peyton convinced her to join." Jake said.

The whistle signifying the start of the game pierced the air and Nathan's mind narrowed to one thought.

Win.

One elbow to the face, a boy from the opposite team breaking his arm, and 1 hour 32 minutes and 15 seconds later, the Tree Hill Ravens had secured their first win of the season.

It had been another great game, but for Nathan that had never been enough.

* * *

At 1am the next morning Haley was awakened by her phone buzzing on her bedside table. She moved her hand around blindly in the dark before grasping onto her phone and bringing it to her ear.

"Hello?" She yawned.

"Haley?" A sob filled the phone.

Haley sat up immediately in her bed the covers falling down to her lap, "Mum what's wrong?" Another broken sob was released from her mother, "Mum? Mum what happened?"

"It's Vivian." Lydia James finally spoke.

"What about Viv?" Haley chocked out, it felt like a lump was stuck in her throat and she felt tears start to well up in her eyes. This couldn't be happening, not again. "Mum is she alright?"

"She's not dead honey." Lydia reassured her.

Haley released a breath she hadn't even realised she had been holding.

"But she tried to kill herself." Lydia sobbed.

"I thought the depression was getting better." Haley said.

"I'm sorry I have to go dear, the doctors want to talk to me." Lydia said, "I promise I'll call when I get more news."

"Alright," Haley said, "I love you mum."

"I love you too Haley Bob." Lydia responded, "Be safe."

Haley heard the buzz signifying her mother had hung up and took the phone away from her ear with her trembling hand. She placed it back on her bedside table and fell back onto her bed with her heart beating loudly in her chest.

The uncomfortable feeling in her throat was worsening. She turned over so she was facing the wall and suddenly a sob escaped her mouth. She clamped her hand over her lips but was unable to stop the tears that had started to stream down her cheeks. She continuing weeping into her pillow, knowing Brooke and Peyton wouldn't hear her. Peyton always slept with headphones on and music playing, and once Brooke was asleep an earthquake couldn't wake her.

It wasn't fair. How could her sister do this to their mum? After everything that had previously occurred.

"Haley what happened?" A deep voice flooded through the thin wall of her dorm room.

"Nathan?" Haley croaked. She came to the conclusion that his bed must be on the other side of the wall. _Did that mean he had heard the phone call_? "Did you hear what happened?"

"No." He responded softly, "I just heard you crying. Are you okay?"

Haley opened her mouth to respond but instead another sob broke out.

"Okay," Nathan voice soothed though the wall, "Knock on the wall once for yes and twice for no."

Haley reached out slowly and knocked on the wall twice softly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Nathan asked.

Haley shook her head no before realizing that Nathan couldn't actually see her, "No." She whispered brokenly.

"Do you want me to keep talking to you?" He asked.

"Please." He voice cracked as she spoke, "Can you tell me a story?"

"Sure." Nathan racked his brain for something to tell the crying girl on the other side of the wall. He realized in that moment that he would do anything to try and make her feel better. Haley was never really the kind of girl to let people know when she was upset and although he couldn't see her, hearing her cry was physically paining him.

"For this story to make sense, you have to know that Whitey is my neighbour." Nathan started the story, "It was during the summer when Lucas and I were around 9. We had just found this old tire. There is this massive hill outside our house and we thought it would be a brilliant idea to roll ourselves down the hill whilst sitting inside the tire. Of course I had to go first, so Lucas shoved me down the hill in this tire. When I reached the bottom Whitey had just driven into the street in his car. Inside the tire I slammed right into his car. I was fine, but all the windows in his car shattered. He spent the rest of the summer glaring at us and throwing the cabbages he grew in his garden at use whenever we passed his house."

There was silence for a moment before Nathan heard the sound of soft laughter through the wall.

"That explains why he hates you so much." Haley sniffled, a wonky tearstained smile on her face.

"You feeling better?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah." She whispered, "Thank you Nathan."

Haley then passed out immediately from sheer exhaustion. On the other side of the wall Nathan allowed a small smile to stretch onto his features before he too fell into a dreamless sleep.

 **AN: Thank you so much to all the wonderful people who enjoyed last chapter.  
** **As you are slowly starting to see Haley has quite an intense past so you will find out more about it later.  
** **Please let me know what you thought of this chapter.  
The title is a lyric from the song 'Perfect Storm'.  
Thanks again for reading !  
xxx**

 **-Rosie**


	5. Anecdoche

**Chapter 5: Anecdoche: A conversation in which everyone is talking but no one is listening.**

Haley pilled food onto her plate the next day at breakfast before walking back to her table and sitting down.

"Still no Brooke?" She asked, and Peyton shook her head in response. Haley and Peyton still remained to be the only people seated at the table. The boys were always late to morning meals so that was no surprise. However, Brooke had been gone since they had woken up. This was weird considering Brooke would never get up earlier then she had to.

"Hello ladies." The sound of Jake's usual greeting filled the air.

"Jagielski." Haley and Peyton responded in unison.

"You guys missing one as well?" Jake asked, "Lucas has been gone all morning."

"I'm sure it's nothing." Haley responded quickly, noticing Peyton had paled dramatically when Jake had spoken.

Nathan sat down at the table, a plate of food in his hand. He looked at Haley in concern, the look in his eyes posing a question.

She reached out and subtly knocked on the table once to signify that she was fine. Nathan smiled when she did so, and nodded his head at her before digging in to his food.

She really was feeling better. She had spoken to her mother that morning, Vivian had woken up and was feeling better physically. Emotionally however she wasn't sure. Her mother had told her that she would be sending Vivian to The Rosalie Institute, which catered for women who had attempted suicide, or needed help battling drug and alcohol addiction. It was a few hours from Tree Hill which meant that Haley would be able to visit her sister whenever she wanted to. However, Vivian wasn't allowed visitors for a few months while she was in intense recovery.

The door to the Dining Hall swung open suddenly and Brooke flurried in fixing her hair as she walked. She walked over to the buffet, and grabbed an apple before moving over the table and sitting down in her seat. Haley noticed that as soon as Brooke sat down Lucas entered the Dining Hall.

"Where were you?" Peyton asked, trying not to look interested as she fiddled with her toast.

"I had to talk to our Lacrosse coach about some overlapping trainings that we have to miss due to cheer." Brooke responded easily, daintily sipping her apple juice.

The lie slipped out of her mouth easily, almost too easily.

* * *

"You got mail Hale." Peyton said in a sing song voice as she gently dropped the parcel on Haley's bed. It had on the front large lettering that read FRAGILE.

"Do you know who it's from?" Haley asked.

"Your mum I think." Peyton replied, reading through the letter her dad had sent her.

Shit. Haley loved her mum, but she was horrid at giving gifts. She always gave the strangest things that she thought would be a good idea but they never were. When she was eleven her mum had given her a stuffed tuna fish for Christmas.

"Oh god, a package from Lydia James." Brooke teased from where she was sitting on her bed, "This can't be good."

Brooke had been the one to receive the stuffed cod fish for Christmas.

Haley sat down cross legged on her bed and started to open the package. "Shit, mum what did you do?" She stared in astonishment at the small pair of eyes peering back at her.

"Haley what did your mum…" Brooke trailed off as she came to stand beside Haley's bed, "Oh my god she bought you a cat."

"There's a letter." Peyton said as she came to stand beside Brooke.

Haley picked up the letter and started to read it aloud, "Dear Haley, I'm sorry I haven't seen you much recently. When I saw this cat I thought of you, I know you always wanted one as a child. Love you."

"That's nice." Brooke said, "But I thought pets were banned on school grounds."

"They are." Peyton pointed out.

"I guess I'll just have to send it back to her." Haley said, looking at the tiny ginger and white kitten that was gazing at her with enlarged blue eyes.

"No!" Brooke protested, "It's so cute. We can go into town and get it some food and a litter tray. Then we can potty train it. During the day we can keep him in the dorm room, and at night when everyone is asleep we can let him out."

"It could actually work Haley." Peyton said.

Haley looked back and forth between Brooke who was giving her the puppy dog face and the miniature kitten that was now munching on the corner of the package.

"Fine." Haley sighed, "But we're calling him Aslan."

* * *

"You coming Haley?" Brooke asked, as her and Peyton stood by the door in their formal dinner attire.

"I'll meet you guys down there, I have to feed Aslan first." Haley responded. It had been two days and so far they hadn't been caught. Despite the minor setback of Aslan peeing all over the rug nothing completely horrid had happened. Well, until now.

"Aslan?" Haley called, looking around the room for her cat. She heard a soft meow and looked up to see Aslan with his head sticking out the window.

"Here kitty kitty." Haley soothed trying to lure the cat back inside the room. Suddenly Aslan jumped out onto the windowsill and Haley sprinted forward so she could stick her head out the window.

"Oh fuck my life." She swore when Aslan climbed through Nathan's open window.

Haley knew she couldn't leave her cat in there, if anyone found out she was keeping him on campus she would be in serious trouble and Aslan would be taken away from her. After debating her options for a few seconds she decided that Nathan would probably have already gone down for dinner, so he wouldn't be around when she had to break into his dorm room.

She slipped off her heels before hiking up the corner of her dark blue dress and climbing out onto her windowsill. Holding on for dear life, and praying no one was watching her she managed to dangerously maneuverer herself from her windowsill onto Nathan's. She then slid through the open window and dropped to the ground on his dorm room floor.

Nathan's room was neater then Haley had expected it to be as she dropped to the floor and started to crawl around looking for her runaway cat. She had her head under Nathan's bed whistling for her cat when it happened.

"Can I help you with something?" The voice caused Haley to jolt upwards smacking her head on Nathan's bed. She rolled out from underneath it and sat up to find Nathan staring at her with an expression of confusion and amusement on his face.

He was wearing nothing but a pair of dark navy low cut jeans. His dark hair was slightly wet, and it dawned on Haley that he must have just gotten out of the shower.

She felt her face flush slightly as she jumbled words around in her head to try and come up with a convincing lie, "You were late for dinner. So I was asked to come and find you."

"Really?" Nathan grinned at her clearly unconvinced, "Then why were you looking under my bed?"

"I couldn't find you." Haley mumbled, lying was not her thing.

Nathan walked over to his wardrobe and pulled a shirt out of the open draw. He tugged it on before peering more closely at his draw and walking back over to it.

"You wouldn't happen to be looking for this would you?" Nathan asked chucking softly as he lifted Aslan out of the draw.

Haley watched in annoyance as her cat, which usually hated everyone, immediately started purring and curling up against Nathan.

"Do you mind keeping this a secret?" Haley asked.

Nathan rubbed the kitten behind its ears before looking up at her, "Okay, but you owe me a favour Haley James."

"Deal."

* * *

Haley jolted awake as the sound of a siren pierced her ears.

"What the hell is that?" She yelled over the noise.

"Fire drill." Peyton yawned as she got out of her bed dragging her comforter with her.

"Do they always happen at three am?" She groaned, as Peyton ushered her out of the room looking like a ghoul, with her dark comforter wrapped around her and her eye makeup smeared on her face.

When they were finally outside there were hundreds of kids standing around, all of them lathered in pyjamas and grumpy expressions.

As she walked with Peyton to find a place to stand she noticed quite a few guys raking their gazes up and down her body. She suddenly became aware that she was wearing nothing but her tank top and skimpy pyjama shorts.

"These guys are totally eye molesting me." Haley whispered uncomfortably to Peyton, crossing her arms over her chest.

Nathan and Jake walked over to where Haley and Peyton were standing against the tree outside their building. They were both also in their pyjamas. Peyton had wrapped her blanket tightly around herself and looked like she was about to go back to sleep. Haley's eyes were flickering around nervously, Nathan noticed she actually looked quite uncomfortable. He followed her gaze to where a group of sleazy guys from their year were not even bothering to hide the perverted looks they were giving her. He felt a deep wave of anger rush over him.

He walked over so he was standing beside Haley. He then pulled off the hoodie he was wearing and offered it to her.

"You look cold." Nathan said, when she cocked her head at him in confusion.

Haley gratefully took the hoodie and slipped it on. It was really big on her petite frame and stopped around mid-thigh on her legs. It was actually really warm and she felt a sense of relief flood through her body. She offered him a soft smile.

"Haley James?" The teacher marking the roll called out to the group of juniors.

"Here." Haley replied. Jake, Peyton and Nathan had their names called later on.

"Lucas Scott?" The teacher called next. No reply rose from the crowd and Haley looked around for Lucas' tall figure.

"He wasn't in our room when I left." Jake whispered to them.

"That means we are missing Brooke Davis and Lucas Scott." The teacher said, "Does anyone know where they are."

"I think we all know where they are." A voice rose from the crowd causing quite a few people to laugh in response.

Haley stole at quick glance at Peyton who was watching the scene unfold before her with wide eyes.

"I'm so sorry we're late." Brooke's voice broke through the crowd suddenly. Both Brooke and Lucas had suddenly appeared, hands linked, their clothes dishevelled and their hair messy. It was obvious to everyone where they had been.

"Miss Davis and Mr Scott, please go wait over there while I finish the role. I will speak to you later." The teacher said angrily.

"Peyton…" Haley whispered to her friend keeping her voice low so the boys wouldn't hear. Peyton's face looked utterly heartbroken, this was weird coming from her friend who rarely showed that much emotion. She put her arm around her friend, who leant her head on Haley's shoulder and turned her face so it was facing away from the crowd.

Nathan turned to look at them with confusion. He then looked over to where Lucas and Brooke were now being yelled at by a teacher, before turning to look back at Peyton. A look of realization flooded his features, and Haley knew he finally got it.

Within the next fifteen minutes she was lying back down on her bed. Brooke was already asleep and she was politely pretending that she couldn't hear Peyton crying softly from her bed.

Three soft knocks will suddenly heard through the wall. _Are you okay?_

Haley fiddled with the string on the hoodie she was still wearing before softly knocking back once. She then knocked out her own question with three quiet knocks.

He responded with one knock as well.

"Goodnight Hales." Nathan murmured.

"Goodnight Nate." She responded.

* * *

The next morning at breakfast it was silent. Haley wasn't even really sure why, all she knew was that if she wanted to she could have cut the awkwardness with a knife.

"So," Jake's ever optimistic voice broke the silence, "I guess congratulations are in order." He motioned to Brooke and Lucas.

"Are you two together now?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah." Brooke smiled, as her and Lucas laced their fingers together on top of the table.

"I'm really happy for you guys." Haley said, smiling at her friends. Despite feeling quite bad for Peyton she really was happy for Brooke. Brooke had never really had a boyfriend who had actually cared about her feelings, and Haley knew Lucas had good intentions.

"What do we have first period?" Peyton asked, changing the subject.

"I'm pretty sure we all have gym class." Jake answered her with a large smile. It was completely obvious that Jake was head over heels for Peyton and Haley wished her friend could see this. But you can't pick and choose your feelings.

Half an hour later Haley was standing in the gym attempting to shoot a basketball through the stupid hoop. She had been trying for ages and hadn't even managed to get one stupid shot in. She swung her arms behind her head before propelling them forward and flinging the basketball at the hoop. Unfortunately it didn't even come close to the back board, let alone the hoop. In fact the ball went flying into a window and shattered it causing loose shards of glass to fall to the ground.

"Miss James." Whitey's voice yelled from behind her, "I don't mean to offend you but you suck."

"It wasn't that tragic." Haley attempted to defend herself to no avail.

"Not point in trying Hales." Brooke teased, walking up to stand beside her friend.

"Alright," Whitey said, as the class crowded around him, "For the rest of the lesson I will split you into pairs and you will need to practice actually getting shots in." This was followed by a pointed look at Haley who blushed deeply in response.

"Brooke Davis and Lucas Scott." Whitey started, "Marvin McFadden and Erica Marsh. Peyton Sawyer and Jake Jagielski. Rachel Gatina and Mackenzie Payne. Nathan Scott and Haley James. Maybe he can improve your dying basketball ability Miss James."

Haley opened her mouth to protest in outrage, but decided against it because she knew his statement was correct. She followed Nathan as they walked out of the gym to one of the many outside basketball courts.

"This is so stupid." Haley muttered, as she kicked the ground with the toe of her shoe.

"The only reason you don't like it is because you're not good at it." Nathan smirked.

"Shut up." She grumbled.

"It's not even that hard." He said, taking a shot at the hoop and getting it in immediately.

"Well not for _you_." Haley pointed out, "I on the other hand happen to only reach 5'2 in height."

"And you're adorable." Nathan teased, tapping her on the nose mockingly.

"It's terrifying to think that people like you are allowed to breed." She scowled. She then opened her mouth to release another scathing comment but a loud hiccup was released instead.

Nathan was trying his absolute hardest not to burst into laughter at her pissed off expression and high pitched hiccups.

"Let's just practice getting shots in okay?" Nathan said, taking another shot at the hoop and getting it in.

Haley nodded stifling a hiccup. For the next ten minutes they continuously took shots at the basketball hoop. Nathan had gotten every single one he had attempted in, whereas Haley had ceased to get even one in.

"I can teach you how to do it, if you promise not to kill me." Nathan suggested after Haley had missed yet another shot.

She narrowed her eyes at him slightly before nodding. Nathan came up so he was behind her; practically pressed up against her back. He then gently placed his hands on her hips and instructed her to bend slightly. Haley could feel an individual line of heat from where every one of his digits were touching her hips. What scared her more than that was when she realized she actually didn't hate the feeling.

"Hold your hands like this." He instructed, moving her hands so that they were in the correct position.

"Now shoot." He whispered. She moved her hands like he had instructed and watched as the basketball hit the backboard, bounced off the rim, and then went in.

"Yes!" Haley squealed, giggling with happiness. She turned in Nathan's arms so she could throw her arms around him in gratitude.

She pulled apart a moment later and they both suddenly seemed to realize how small the distance between them was. The air felt almost thick with tension, and Haley looked up at Nathan with wide almost scared eyes.

Another hiccup abruptly tore from Haley's throat causing the two teenagers to break out of their trance and jolt away from each other as if they had just been struck by lightning.

Haley nervously ran a hand through her honey blonde hair before glancing at Nathan through her long eyelashes, "We should get back inside."

"Yeah," He replied, "That's probably for the best."

He knew nothing could happen. Haley was different, she was good and he didn't want to hurt her. He wasn't a good person, he broke everything he cared about.

He knew that, surrounded by admiring freshmen and swooning brainless girls, but never feeling more alone.

 **AN:  
** **There is chapter 5!  
Please let me know what you thought in the reviews.  
Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed last chapter, you guys are incredible.  
Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **-Rosie**


	6. I am the designer of my own catastrophe

**Chapter 6: I am the designer of my own catastrophe.**

Haley was currently the only person in the auditorium. She and Nathan were supposed to be painting sets but he was going to be late as he had basketball practice that afternoon. She was dancing around the stage with her paint brush singing _My Heart Will Go On_ from _Titanic._

"You know Hales you're actually really good." Nathan's voice echoed through the empty auditorium, "Well at the singing part, not so much the dancing part."

"Ha ha." Haley sneered, turning back to the set to hide her embarrassment. She had never actually sung in front of someone. Ever.

"You should join the next musical." He suggested.

"I think I'd go into a coma if I had to sing in front of that many people." Haley responded truthfully, "How was practice?"

"I enjoy basketball a lot more at school." Nathan replied.

Haley knotted her eyebrows together in confusion, "Why?"

"Because at school my dad's not here to ruin it." Nathan said bitterly, coming over and sitting next to her on the stage.

"Do you not get along with him?" Haley asked, continuing to paint the door blue.

"Let's just say I'm counting down the days until I turn eighteen and can get away from him." Nathan said.

Haley didn't push him to expand on that, and he was thankful for that. She knew what it was like to have family issues.

Suddenly a smirk crossed Nathan's face as he reached over and ripped the paintbrush out of Haley's smaller hand.

"Hey!" She exclaimed, attempting to grab the brush back from him, "Give that back you jerk!"

"Okay take it." Nathan said, holding the paintbrush high over his head.

She fixed him with an indignant and frustrated look before attempting to jump for it. She didn't even come close to touching the paintbrush, and she knew she wasn't going to be able to reach it anytime soon.

"Fine." She pouted, "I didn't even want that paintbrush. I'll grab another one."

Nathan chuckled and brought his hand down from over his head. Haley spun around with the intention of grabbing another paintbrush from the bucket of them but ended up smacking straight into the door she had previously been painting.

The bang echoed through the auditorium as Haley practically bounced off the door and smashed into Nathan. He immediately steadied her in his arms as she groaned, her head lolling against his chest.

"Holy shit Haley, are you okay?" Nathan questioned.

He placed his hand gently under her chin and tilted her face up so he could see where her head had made impact with the door. He smoothed the hair out of her face softly. There was a large patch of light blue paint smeared on her forehead, and Nathan assumed it was starting to bruise underneath.

"Nathan, I feel like I just got hit by a bus." Haley grumbled, blinking away the black spots from behind her eyes.

"Almost Hales." Nathan replied, "But it was just a door."

"I'm such a klutz." She pouted.

Nathan brushed his fingers gently over where the paint was already starting to stick to her forehead, "Do you want me to take you to the nurse? We can get you some ice."

Haley nodded, swaying slightly on her feet as her head pounded madly. Nathan knew she must be in quite a lot of pain because she didn't argue when he picked up her bag for her and then wrapped an arm tightly around her waist so she wouldn't lose her balance as they walked.

They reached the school nurse's office five minutes later and Nathan knocked before opening the door and leading Haley in.

"Carmen?" Nathan called out. A kind looking lady with greying hair walked out of her office immediately.

"Nathan dear, another basketball injury?" Carmen questioned.

"Not me this time actually." Nathan motioned to Haley who was leaning slightly against him with her eyes squeezed shut, "This is Haley James she walked into a door."

Haley opened her eyes slightly, "I promise I'm not an idiot."

Carmen chuckled before walking over to them. She scanned Haley's face briefly. "Alright Nathan can you help her onto the bed in my office and clean off the paint while I get her some ice."

Nathan nodded at Carmen before turning to Haley, "Come on Hales." He led her over to the elevated bed in Carmen's office before lifting her up so she could sit on it.

"I can't believe you're on a first name basis with the school nurse." Haley said.

Nathan grabbed a cloth and ran in under the sink before moving back over to Haley, "After all the times I've seen you injure yourself in the past few weeks, I'm pretty sure you will be too."

Haley stuck her tongue out at him, but was unable to keep the smile off her face.

"This might hurt a little." Nathan warned, moving the hand clad with the damp cloth up to Haley's forehead to start wiping away the light blue paint. He raised his other hand gently to her cheek to keep her face in place.

When Nathan had finally cleared away the paint he could see the start of a purplish bruise forming on her forehead. Carmen re-entered her office with an abnormally large ice pack in her hand.

"In the future try not to walk into any more doors Miss James."

* * *

The next day Nathan was standing near his lockers with Tim Smith getting his books for his next class. Tim was on the basketball team with Nathan and was either on a sugar high or drugs because he had been babbling about the weirdest shit for the past fifteen minutes.

Tim ran a few steps in front of Nathan brandishing a large Coca-Cola. When he turned the corner he smashed into Haley who was walking in the opposite direction immediately soaking her white blouse with dark brown liquid.

"Whoops sorry Haley." Tim said, before sprinting down the corridor.

"God sorry Hales." Nathan apologized again for his teammate, "It's nothing personal he's always like that."

"It's fine." Haley dismissed his apology, "My shirts ruined though." Her previously pristine white shirt was now completely drenched in dark liquid. Rachel gave her shit about what she usually wore, this was not going to help the issue.

 _What the heck is he doing,_ Haley thought looking back up at Nathan. _Shit is taking off his shirt? Oh my god._

"Here." Nathan handed here his sweater shirt, "You can wear it for the next class, just until you have time to go back to your dorm room and change."

"What are you going to wear?" Haley asked, annoyed at herself for feeling so flustered around him when he was shirtless.

Nathan reached into his locker and pulled out his basketball singlet before tugged it on. He then reached down onto the ground to scoop up Haley's books which Tim had knocked out of her hands when he had bashed into her.

"Thanks." She took the books out of his hands, as they walked down the corridor to their next class.

"Well if it isn't Mr Scott and Miss James." Their English teacher Mrs Bracken announced loudly as they walked into her classroom, "Could you two please try and keep your personal needs to outside class times." The class erupted into snickers, and Haley could see quite a few girls death glaring her.

Haley and Nathan exchanged a confused look before they both finally got it. The shirt. It totally made it look like they had just hooked up. "Oh no…we didn't…I mean we wouldn't…I was just…" Haley and Nathan both broke into a fit of excuses before Mrs Bracken silenced them and gestured for them to take their seat.

Haley avoided looking at Nathan as she moved to the back to sit beside Brooke and Peyton who were both staring at her with shit eating smirks plastered on their faces.

"Not a word." Haley growled at her best friends.

"I wasn't going to say anything." Brooke snickered.

"Nothing at all." Peyton laughed.

The period flew by and before Haley knew it she was standing in gym class getting ready for the volleyball match to the death. Literally.

Nathan, Lucas, and Jake were getting seriously competitive about the whole thing and were standing right up by the net. Brooke was standing beside her applying lip gloss and Peyton was staring at the clock counting the minutes until she could leave. Haley was just trying to stay upright.

The volleyball rolled past Haley and stopped by Rachel's feet. There was no way Rachel was going to let that loser Haley get away with hooking up with Nathan when she had obviously had her eye on him first. She picked up the volleyball and thwacked it at Haley, spiking her in the head and causing her to crumple to the ground. Rachel smiled to herself in satisfaction.

The class immediately started to crowd around Haley, who was passed out on the floor.

"She's out cold." Whitey said, as he crouched beside Haley's limp body on the floor.

"What the hell you bitch!" Brooke lunged at Rachel but was pulled back by Lucas.

The class immediately broke into a two sided fight. Brooke and Peyton were screaming at Rachel, whilst Rachel's airheaded friends had immediately rushed to her defence and were screeching back at them with the same force.

"That's enough!" Whitey yelled, causing the fighting to immediately stop, "Someone needs to take Miss James to the nurse's office."

"I'll take her." Nathan's voice caused everyone in the room to stare at him in shock and disbelief.

Ignoring the stares he was receiving he bent down and placed one arm behind Haley's back and the other under her knees. He then straightened up, holding her tightly against his chest. Sending Rachel a glare that immediately wiped the smirk off her face he left the gym without a word.

When he reached the nurses office he tightened his grip on Haley with one arm and then reached out with the other to open the door.

"Twice in one week." Carmen exclaimed as soon as she saw Haley, "Was it another door?"

"This time it wasn't her fault." Nathan said, "A girl hit her over the head with a volleyball on purpose." He felt the simmering anger inside him start to grow and he looked down at Haley's delicate form. She made a small whimpering noise, and unconsciously nuzzled closer to Nathan's chest but she didn't wake up.

"What a bitch." Carmen said. Teenagers could be so mean, she knew that first hand from her high school days. "You can put her down on the bed. Do you want to wait with her until she wakes up?"

Nathan nodded, and carried Haley over to the bed. He unlatched her small hands from where they had twisted into his shirt and he lay her down gently on the bed. He then reached a hand out and brushed the fallen strands of blonde hair away from her closed eyes. After he sat down on the leather seat beside the bed and prepared himself for a long wait.

When Haley woke up she had absolutely no idea where she was. The ceiling above her was white and detailed. There were hundreds of boxes of tissues everywhere, and Nathan was sitting beside her eating a popsicle.

"What happened?" She groaned, the back of her head hurt and she couldn't remember why.

"Rachel hit you over the head with a volleyball." Nathan explained, relief filling his body that she was awake and talking.

"That bitch." Haley muttered, "I haven't given her the satisfaction of passing out before."

"She's done this before." Nathan asked shocked.

"Well not with a volleyball." Haley said rubbing her temples, "Usually she just shoves me over, pushes me down stairs. One time she hit me with her Lacrosse stick. That was not a fun day."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Nathan asked softly.

"Tell you what. That your creepy ex-girlfriend keeps trying to kill me. Yeah no thanks." Haley chuckled still feeling moderately delirious. She turned her head to look at Nathan, "Can I have a popsicle?"

"Here you go Haley." Carmen said, as she walked into the office holding out a bright red Popsicle.

"Yay, thanks Carmen." She said. As soon as she left Haley turned to Nathan, "We're on a first name basis now."

"Eat your popsicle you dork." Nathan responded gently.

He wasn't sure what to do with this Rachel situation. Usually we wouldn't do anything, last year he wouldn't have thought twice about it. But when he looked over at Haley he felt a wave of protectiveness pulse through him. He had never felt like that before, and it scared him.

* * *

The next week Haley, Brooke and Peyton were walking towards the school hall where they had been told to meet for an impromptu assembly.

"So what is this assembly even for?" Haley asked, tightening her cardigan around her shoulders as the crisp autumn air nipped at her exposed skin.

"Not sure." Brooke responded, "I'm hoping they're announcing the date for the next school dance."

"You probably wouldn't even dance." Haley teased, "You'd just end up getting freaky with Lucas in the supply closet.

Brooke squealed and smacked her friend on the shoulder, "It would most likely be you and Nathan getting freaky in the supply closet."

"You need to come to terms with the fact that Nathan and I getting together is never going to happen." Haley replied.

Brooke and Peyton exchanged an unconvinced look.

"Really because he totally swooped in to your recuse last week after the whole Rachel volleyball incident." Brooke said playfully.

"You're deranged." Haley said.

"And you're oblivious." Brooke responded, as they reached the hall and walked inside. There were chairs lined up along the walls and they walked over to where the boys were seated.

Once the entire junior year were inside the hall Principal Turner walked into the middle of the hall with a microphone in his hand.

"Oh my god is he going to serenade us?" Haley joked, but laughed when she saw Nathan's face fill with horror.

"Alright juniors it is that time of year again." Principal Turner said, "Towards the end of the school year it will be time for your cotillion."

Loud groans and screams of protest were heard from the audience.

"Leading up to the cotillion you will all need to learn the proper dances that are required to be known for the event." Principal Turner continued, ignoring the protest from the student body. "Also, partners for these rehearsals will be assigned."

"Can he do that?" Brooke demanded in outrage, "What if I have to dance with some guy with a skin disease."

Brooke wasn't the only one who had a problem with this as the entire hall seemed to have burst into fits of indignation.

"That is enough!" Principal Turner yelled, "Would all girls please come up and collect the name of your partner."

Haley, Brooke and Peyton all got up and walked into the middle of the hall where a teacher was standing with a large box of small envelopes that had their names written on them.

When Haley was handed her envelope she hesitated a second before opening it. _Nathan Scott_. The name was written in curly lettering and Haley knew she was going to get so much shit from her friends for this.

"Who'd you get?" She turned to her friends.

"Jake." Brooke said, "At least he's my friend. You?"

Haley flashed her the envelope and a smug grin stretched onto Brooke's face, "I told you. It's fate."

"There's no such thing as fate." Haley replied, "Who did you get Peyton?"

She turned to her friend who was staring at her envelope will a paled expression, "Lucas." She sounded like she had something caught in her throat.

"Oh Peyton please swap with me." Brooke pleaded, "Pretty please!"

"There will be not swapping." Principal Turner announced to the hall after hearing their conversation, "Everyone please go and find your partner."

Haley walked over to where the boys were sitting. They all looked up at her quizzically when she neared them.

"Which one of us do you have?" Jake questioned.

Haley turned her envelope around so they could see it, "Who did you sleep with to make this happen Scott?"

A smirk spread across Nathan's face as he got up and walked over to her, "You know you want me Haley James."

"Keep dreaming." Haley chuckled.

"Would everyone please grab their partner and move to a clear space where you will be able to move around without knocking other pairs over." Principal Turner said, "Today we will be learning the waltz."

"Oh no." Haley murmured, an impending feeling of doom flooded her veins, "You should know I have two left feet." She said to Nathan.

"Well I have two right feet." Nathan replied, "Maybe somehow we can pull this off."

"Gentlemen place your right hand on your partner's hip to mid back region." Principal Turner instructed, "No slipping!"

"Oh come on Turner!" A voice yelled causing a few people to laugh.

Nathan looked at her silently asking for permission and she nodded her head slightly, before looking down at her feet. Nathan's muscular hand slid around her waist until it rested on her hip, his fingers brushing the mid-section of her back.

"Ladies take your left hand and place it on your partner's shoulder."

Haley placed her hand on Nathan's well-built shoulder and let it rest there gently, still avoiding eye contact with him.

"Now ladies take your right hand and grasp it in your partner's left hand." Principal Turner coached.

Haley tentatively reached up and gripped her hand in Nathan's much larger one. She was insanely nervous, she had always been horrible at dancing and had actually never done serious dancing like this. She felt Nathan squeeze her hand slightly and she looked up at him.

"Don't worry I promise I won't be that bad at it." Nathan murmured.

Principal Turner had started counting the waltz steps and everyone in the room had started moving at once. Some like professional dancers and some like they were moderately constipated and drunk.

"It's not you I'm worried about." Haley replied, watching her feet intently.

It had been five minutes of awkward shuffling and treading on each other's feet when both Nathan and Haley finally seemed to vaguely get the hang of waltzing.

"This isn't actually as horrendous as I thought it would be. Must be my new found cheerleading ability." She joked.

"Yeah I never got a chance to ask you about that." Nathan said. They both slowed down slightly so they were rocking back and forth.

"I had to join some extracurricular activities as a part of my scholarship." Haley explained, looking down slightly. She knew Nathan was insanely rich and wasn't sure how he would react to finding out she was on a scholarship.

"Wow Hales I knew you were brilliant, but to get a scholarship you must be kind of a genius." Nathan smiled.

"It's nothing." She replied in a fake overly posh accent.

"I'm really glad you don't hate me as much as you used to." Nathan blurted out suddenly.

"Well you're not as horrible as I thought you would be." She replied.

"You too." Nathan answered, smiling slightly when Haley tightened her fingers unconsciously on his shoulder.

 **AN: So that was chapter 6!  
** **I hope you all enjoyed it.  
** **Also, for the reviewer who asked the parents will be involved in this story. In a few chapters there will be a visiting weekend.  
Please let me know what you thought, I adore feedback!  
Thanks for reading!**

 **-Rosie**


	7. How Dangerous

**Chapter 7: How dangerous, to finally have something worth losing.**

The small school bus carrying the entire basketball team and cheerleading squad to their away game at Cordelia Academy travelled slowly down the highway.

It looked as though a curtain had been pulled over the skyline, as dark clouds billowed and collided together angrily. Haley stared nervously out the window of the bus as pools of collected raindrops gathered on the glass pane before turning into veins of clear liquid which raced to the base of the window.

Haley quite liked rain, but if it started to thunder she would lose her shit.

Peyton was crammed in the seat opposite Haley with her sketchpad resting on her thighs. Jake was on the seat in front of Peyton, seemingly asleep with his head resting on the window. Haley screwed up her face in discomfort when she turned to Brooke and Lucas who were shamelessly making out in the seat in front of her. She knew Nathan was seated behind her at the back of the bus going over plays for the upcoming game.

Suddenly a crack of lightning followed by a detached rumble of thunder sounded in the distance. Haley visibly flinched, she sat on her hands to stop them from trembling and had to bite her lip to prevent herself bursting into tears. She looked up slightly to see Rachel staring at her from a few rows up with a delighted look plastered on her face.

"Well isn't this a fun fact. Little Haley James is scared of storms." Rachel jeered mockingly. By this point most people had stopped what they were doing and had turned to either look at Rachel or Haley.

"Hey here's a fun fact, stay the fuck away from me!" Haley replied back angrily. She choked back the hot tears she could feel threatening to flood over and fixed Rachel with a glare. A series of 'ooooo' and 'she went there' filled the bus and Rachel looked positively livid.

"Miss James!" Whitey reprimanded from the front of the bus.

"Whoops sorry Rachel that was rude." Haley said with a mock apologetic tone, "You should know that's why I said it."

She then turned away from the curious gazes of her friends and classmates and looked out the window. A moment later Haley felt a soft tap on her shoulder and she turned around.

"Here." Nathan held out his Walkman in her direction, "It's the playlist I usually listen to when I want to get pumped for a game. The songs will be loud enough to block out the storm."

"Oh no you don't have to…" Haley replied. A feeling of intense embarrassment settled over her.

"Take it Hales." Nathan smiled kindly, "No objections."

"Thanks." She murmured, taking the Walkman from him and looking down at her hands.

* * *

The Gym at Cordelia Academy smelled like tears and defeat. Well at least that's what Whitey said it would smell like after they kicked the Cordelia Jaguars asses.

Both the basketball team and the cheerleading squad were all jammed in the same change room as their opposing academy had only given them access to one.

"Alright girls gather around." Brooke called. Haley finished tying up her hair and walked over to where the entire cheer squad was crammed around Brooke.

"Okay girlies we only have 20 minutes to paint every one of these boys before they go out to play the game." Brooke said.

Haley stared in confusion at Brooke, "This isn't art class Brooke. What the heck are you talking about?"

"Whitey wants us to paint the school colours on the boys." Brooke clarified, "So everyone grab a paintbrush and get started."

"You're in charge of doing Nathan's." Brooke winked at her before walking over to Lucas.

Haley scowled at her friend before grabbing a paintbrush and walking over to Nathan.

"Take you shirt off Scott." She demanded, tapping her foot impatiently.

Nathan dropped the water bottle he had previously been drinking from and whirled around to stare at her. "What?!"

"No! Not like that." Haley corrected herself, "Geez get your head out of the gutter Nathan. I have to do your paint." She held up the white, blue and black paint and her paintbrush.

Nathan took off his basketball singlet and Haley focused every fibre of her being into not blushing. She then stared at him trying to come up with the best way to go about doing this.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Nathan asked in an amused tone.

"Rarely." She muttered.

She then dipped the tip of her paintbrush in the blue paint and walked over so she was standing directly in front of Nathan. Trying extremely hard not to feel awkward she rested one of her hands on the muscular plane of Nathan's chest to steady herself and with the other started to carefully paint the required pattern.

"Haley are you alright?" Nathan chuckled five minutes later.

"Yep," Haley replied, chewing her lip in concentration. "I just have to get this last swirl right." She shifted slightly on the chair she was balancing on and gripped Nathan's arm so she wouldn't fall.

Over the past five minutes she had gotten strangely invested in getting this body art or whatever the hell it was right.

"Haley hurry it up!" Brooke screeched from across the change room.

"Okay dooooooooooone." She finished up the final stroke with a grin. She hopped off the chair to admire her work. "Well I am kind of amazing if I do say so myself." She flipped her hair dramatically over her shoulder.

"Hales I look like a _My Little Pony_." Nathan said, looking in the mirror.

Haley thwacked him on the shoulder playfully, "You do not! You look completely masculine."

Nathan laughed and pulled his basketball singlet on, "Yes because swirls are the epitome of masculinity."

"Where's your faith?" She replied, "I thought Nathan Scott could make anything work?"

Nathan puffed out his chest slightly, "I can."

"Then let's go." Haley replied.

They then followed their friends out of the change room. As they waited for the Tree Hill Ravens to be called into the gym a boy their age from the opposite basketball team walked down the corridor towards them.

"Hey slut! Nice ass." He called, winking at Haley as he passed.

Nathan had the guy pinned up against the wall before anyone had even had time to react to what he had said. Nathan's vision was suddenly overcome with red and he couldn't stop his hand from pressing deeper and deeper into the guy's neck.

"What did you say about her?" Nathan asked his voice dangerously low, his nails starting to dig deeper into the guy's windpipe. "Why don't you say it again? Say it so I can hear you!" He slammed the boy's body against the wall again.

The boy's face had started to go scarlet and the vain on his forehead was now prominent and throbbing. Every sound in the hallway had stopped and each person was watching the scene unfold with horrified expressions on their faces.

"Nathan he's not worth it." Haley soothed, her voice calm and steady. "You're just going to get in trouble, let's go. You are better than this."

"I'm not Hales." Nathan choked out, his voice thick with pent up emotion. "You and I both know I'm not. I'm a Scott. Hurting people is practically in my DNA."

"You're wrong." Haley argued, stepping closer to him. "You are a good person, Nathan I've seen it. And this guy is not worth it. Just trust me okay. Please."

He turned his bright blue into her brown ones for a moment that seemed to stretch forever, before he finally dropped the boy to the ground.

"We settle this on the court." Nathan growled to the boy who had fallen unceremoniously to the ground and was now hacking loudly. He then stalked past his teammates and the cheerleaders who were all staring at him in shock and walked into the gym.

"You okay?" Brooke asked softly, rubbing Haley's arm to get her attention.

"Yeah." Haley responded, still staring at where Nathan had left.

"Well I can safely say that is the very first time someone has managed to talk Nathan Scott out of a fight." Peyton said, coming over to stand on the other side of Haley.

"Yeah Haley James you should get an award." Brooke said trying to lighten to mood.

"Are any of you bitches going to help me off the floor?" The boy Nathan had thrown to the floor whisper yelled.

"No!" They all yelled in unison before walking into the gym after their classmates.

The basketball game had been going really well so far. The Tree Hill Ravens were leading by 10 points, and the Cordelia Jaguars were steadily falling behind. Besides constantly death glaring each other Nathan and the boy who had called Haley a slut hadn't attempted to kill each other.

Nathan currently had the ball and was dribbling it towards their teams hoop when the boy from earlier moved in front of him and elbowed him in the face grabbing the ball in the process. A collected gasp was released from the watching crowd, and Haley felt like her heart with literally trying to crawl its way out of her throat.

"Foul!" Whitey yelled in outrage from the sidelines, as Jake had to hold Lucas back from lunging at the guy who had hit Nathan.

The referee walked onto the court and told Nathan to go get his face looked at, he then sent the other boy off and told everyone else to continue the game.

Nathan walked angrily over to where Whitey and the cheerleaders were standing.

"Are you okay Scott?" Whitey asked.

"Yeah," Nathan responded, wiping some of the blood off his face with his hand, "He just elbowed me in the mouth."

The whistle sounded restarting the game and the gym once again erupted into cheers. Brooke gave Haley a pointed look before nodding over to where Nathan was standing behind them. Haley sighed before moving over to where he was. Nathan seemed to be attempting to wipe the blood off his face with a cloth but in reality was simply spreading it more.

"Here let me do it." Haley said, taking the cloth from his blood stained hand. She then held the cloth up gently to his busted lip and started to dab away the crimson blood.

"I'm sorry Haley." Nathan murmured softly. He watched as Haley's face which had been twisted into an expression of concentration, looked up at him in surprise.

"About what?" She asked, moving on to wiping the blood off his hand.

"Before." He clarified, "I shouldn't have gone off like that. It's just that when I heard him say those things about you I got so mad."

"Well I appreciate it, but you didn't need to." Haley said, "I can take care of myself."

"I know." Nathan responded quietly.

"You really scared me you know." Haley murmured. She stared down at her feet and tried to keep the emotion out of her voice to no avail. "I didn't want you to get in trouble or…hurt. I guess it's too late for that last one." She chuckled humourlessly.

"I'm sorry Hales." He reached forward and absentmindedly played with a lock of her hair that had fallen in front of her eyes before tucking it behind her ear.

"I know, just be careful next time." Haley responded, "Besides if you screw up your face what are you going to do? You don't have much else going for you at the moment." She joked, changing the serious mood in the air.

"Hiding your attraction in verbal abuse, I see how it is." Nathan chuckled before standing back up and squeezing her shoulder slightly before walking over to where Whitey was standing watching the game.

A few metres in front of them Brooke and Peyton turned back to the game from the scene they had just been watching unfold.

"Okay bets on." Brooke said, "I'm saying they'll get together before Christmas."

"No way." Peyton replied, "They're completely oblivious, my money's on after Christmas."

"You're on P. Sawyer." Brooke said, holding her hand out to Peyton who shook it in return.

"What are you guys talking about?" Haley asked, coming to stand beside her friends.

"Nothing!" Brooke and Peyton exclaimed in unison.

"Alright then weirdos." Haley laughed.

"How's Nathan?" Brooke asked, a massive grin on her face.

Haley narrowed her eyes at her friend, "Swell."

Nathan was standing on the sideline about to go back in to the game when it happened. A soft rumbling started to quiver the ground. The water bottles which had been balancing on the bench fell off and seemed to roll across the floor in slow motion. The electronic board holding the game score fell to the ground with a crash and a few students had to jump out of the way to avoid being crushed. The bleachers started to shake, and people began to duck for cover holding their heads. Screaming filled the gym as everyone started moving at once.

"Earthquake!" Haley heard Tim yell from the court as if that wasn't already obvious enough.

"Everyone get down and cover your heads!" Whitey bellowed, as he moved to the ground covering his head with his clipboard.

Nathan looked over to see Haley still standing and immediately acted without thinking. He jogged over to where she was and clasped his arms around her before bringing them both to the ground. She peered up at him with wide scared brown eyes and he gently pulled her safely onto his lap before locking his arms securely around her small frame so he was shielding her head and body from anything that could potentially fall from the ceiling and cause her damage. Without thinking Haley pressed her face into the crook of Nathan's neck and tightened the grip she had on his shirt. He smelled like cinnamon and cedar wood, a combination she found she didn't actually despise. She had never been a really spiritual person, but in that moment she became quite intensely religious as she prayed for both Nathan and her friends to be alright.

It in attempt to calm Haley he started to rub small circles on her back. She felt relief slowly start to seep through her body as Nathan continued to run his hand over her back. They sat there for what was probably only minutes but felt like an endless stretch of eternity. A spell of silence had fallen over the gym and Nathan debated with himself internally for a few moments before lifting his head from where it had been previously buried in Haley's honey blonde hair.

Nathan scanned the wreckage of the gym. There weren't cracks in the floor which was a good sign. From what he could see no one was horribly injured, that was another plus. Everyone was still remaining in their positions curled up on the ground. He made eye contact with Brooke who was sitting across from them against the bleachers. She had tears dripping down her face and had her hands firmly secured over her head. Peyton was beside Brooke curled into the same position but with her face pressed against her thighs.

He heard Haley take in a deep shaky breath against his chest and without even thinking he pressed a comforting kiss to her hairline. A moment later Whitey rose slowly from where he had been crouching.

"Every student that attends Tree Hill Academy would you please stand and follow me to the bus. No speaking." Nathan could tell he was trying to keep his voice from trembling.

Nathan slowly stood, bringing Haley up with him. She kept at close proximity to him, slipping her quivering hand into his.

She knew that tomorrow they would both forget about this and go back to the playful banter they were both comfortable with, but right now she couldn't deny the overwhelming sense of safety that washed over her when Nathan squeezed her hand before interlacing their fingers together.

 **AN:**

 **Thank you so much to all the amazing people who reviewed last chapter, I hope you enjoyed this one!  
God Rachel really is a bitch, she's probably going to get worse ;P  
The nature of Haley's fear of thunderstorms actually stems from something in her past which will be revealed in a few chapters.  
Please review and let me know what you thought!  
-Rosie xx**


	8. Its not me but the world that's deranged

**Chapter 8: It's not me but the world that's deranged.**

It had been two weeks since the earthquake at Cordelia Academy. It had shaken quite a few people up, both figuratively and literally. Haley and Nathan had been living in a constant state of denial and were continuing their days as if that night had never happened. It was nearing the end of October and Halloween was right around the corner.

"Miss James can you please come up to the board to answer this question?" Their teacher, Mrs Wainwright asked holding out the chalk for Haley.

She stood up, immediately hating the feeling of having everyone's eyes piercing through her. As she walked up to the blackboard Rachel stuck out her high heel clad foot in her path. Haley stumbled but she managed to catch her footing before she could face plant and continued to the board, taking the chalk from the teacher. She could hear Rachel and her first in command Mackenzie snickering behind her.

She knew that Nathan was going to the upcoming Halloween Bash with Mackenzie and that confused her thoroughly. Mackenzie was such a bitch, she didn't understand why he would want to go out with her. Haley tightened her grip on the chalk and shook her head to clear her head. Who Nathan went out with was none of her concern. She was going to the dance with her guy from her Algebra class. Granted she wasn't actually interested in dating Charlie West. He just looked like he was going to burst into tears if she didn't agree to go with him, so she said yes.

Haley sneezed loudly as she inhaled a gust of the chalk dust.

"I heard she came straight out of the nut house." She could hear Rachel whisper loudly to Mackenzie from the front row, "Killed her brother and father. A true sociopath."

Haley clenched her fist tightly around the chalk. A loud hacking cough suddenly erupted from her throat and she rested her hand against the board to steady herself.

Nathan and Brooke immediately made eye contact.

"Is she okay?" Nathan whispered, both of them staring at the back of Haley's body.

"Miss James are you alright?" Mrs Wainwright asked, finally catching on to the situation.

Haley spun around suddenly. Her face was ghostly pale, and there was a thin line of sweat glistening on her brow. Every time she inhaled a loud wheezing sound came out. She coughed loudly again and slid down the wall to the ground.

"Is she having a panic attack?" A girl in the class asked. Everyone had risen from their seats except Rachel and Mackenzie who had stayed seated and were watching the scene unfold before them.

A look of realization suddenly sprung onto Brooke's face, "She has Asthma!"

"Where's her inhaler?" The teacher asked, trying to remain calm and collected.

"It's in our dorm room." Brooke replied quickly, "She's never had serious Asthma. She hasn't had an attack since we were kids."

"Well go get it Miss Davis!" Mrs Wainwright yelled. Brooke hurried out of the classroom not looking where she was going as she sprinted in the direction of the Clementine Building.

In one sentence Haley felt like she was dying. She could barely remember what it felt like to have an Asthma attack it was so long ago. Her chest was feeling so tight she was worried it was going to crack open. Every time she tried to take a breath a physical pain ricocheted through her body. She started to look wildly around the room with scared eyes. Everything felt too small, and her head was caving in on itself.

"Someone do something!" A quiet girl named Millicent gave a shrill shriek.

"Hales can you hear me?" Nathan asked calmly, as he crouched on the ground in front of Haley. He was focusing everything in him to make sure his fear and nervousness didn't show on his face.

Haley nodded widely, her fingernails digging into her thighs leaving angry crescent shaped marks in her pale skin.

"I'm going to help you okay." Nathan continued calmly, as Mrs Wainwright ushered the other students out of the classroom.

Nathan then sat down beside Haley and gently shifted her so that she was sitting in between his legs with her back pressed against his chest.

"Haley now I need you to try and breathe in time with me okay?" Nathan soothed.

Haley gripped his hands with hers in an iron grip. She wanted to tell him how scared she was, how much she appreciated him helping her, how certain she was that she was going to die. And of all things from an asthma attack. How utterly lame.

She shook her head wildly, she couldn't breathe no matter how hard she tried.

"Shh Hales you're going to be okay I promise." Nathan said, "Now just try and breathe in time with me."

Haley calmed down slightly and rested her head back on Nathan's chest so she could hear the sound of his steady heartbeat.

Suddenly Brooke rushed back into the classroom and shoved the inhaler in Haley's hands.

"Haley come on you have to take it." Nathan urged.

Haley felt like she was going to pass out but raised her weak hand up to her lips and pressed the inhaler. She continued doing so until she had eventually slipped back into normal breathing.

Brooke had sunk to the floor across from them, madly wiping away the tears that were leaking from her eyes.

Haley then fell back against Nathan's chest, entirely exhausted. Without really thinking she turned her body slightly so that she could rest the side of her face against Nathan.

"Good job Hales." Nathan whispered, remotely feeling like crying himself, "You did so good." He then ran a hand gently through her curls and continued stroking her hair softly, as she relaxed against his chest.

"Next period just started, but you two can stay with Miss James until the nurse comes." Mrs Wainwright said.

Brooke was staring at Nathan intently, almost as though she was trying to read him. Nathan ignored her questioning stares and focused his attention on Haley's now sturdy breathing. In that moment he came to the conclusion that he would be fine with whatever happened to him as long as Haley could continue being safe.

"Hey Carmen." Nathan greeted, as Carmen walked into the room with her first aid kit.

"You two again?!" Carmen exclaimed in incredulity.

"What can I say? I'm exceptionally talented at being challenged in the area of living normally." Haley joked, laughing briefly at her own joke before breaking into a small coughing fit.

Carmen shook her head, "I don't think even I have enough popsicles to fix this."

Nathan stood up, practically lifting Haley up as well.

"You two can go back to class." Carmen motioned to Nathan and Brooke, "I have to ask this one some questions about why she didn't have her inhaler on her." Haley winced.

"You scared me Hales." Brooke whispered, stepping forward and hugging her friend tightly, "Don't do that to me again."

When Brooke pulled away from Haley, Nathan started to follow her to the door but changed his mind half way and quickly crossed back over to where Haley was standing. He wrapped his arms tightly around her for a brief moment, before hastily pulling away and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Be safe Haley James." He then left the room without looking back.

* * *

"Can you tell me what my costume is yet Brooke?" Haley asked, lying on her back on her bed on the night of the Halloween Bash.

The Halloween Bash was a dance that was held on the night of Halloween for every student at Tree Hill. Brooke had decided that she was going to put her love of designing fashion to use and make hers, Haley's and Peyton's Halloween costumes. Unfortunately for Haley, Brooke wouldn't actually tell her what she was going as.

"Not yet Miss Impatient." Brooke chided, sowing the last trim on Haley's costume.

"Please tell me it's not to revealing." Haley pleaded, sitting up on her bed.

"Don't worry we scraped the Grease idea remember." Brooke responded, "I promise you'll like it."

Peyton whose outfit was already finished was sitting in front of her mirror applying dark makeup around her eyes. She was going as the Angel of Death. This required extremely large raven black angel wings and a long white and black wig. She actually looked extremely kickass.

Brooke herself was going as the devil. When asked about her costume she replied with a 'what else would I go as' and a hair flick.

"So Peyton are you going to tell us who this mysterious guy you're going with is?" Haley asked. Peyton had a date to the dance. However, she had yet to slip the identity of this mystery date yet.

"Okay…I'll tell you." Peyton said, turning away from the mirror and facing both Haley and Brooke, "No squealing." This was followed by a pointed glare in both their directions. "It's Jake."

"Oh my god! Why didn't you tell us? Are you together now? Did you kiss? Oh my god did you kiss!" Haley rambled, her voice raised slightly with excitement for her friend, whilst Brooke was making happy giggling sounds as she jumped around the room.

Peyton smiled at her friend's reaction, "Yes we are together now." Cue a loud drawn-out squeal. Peyton glared at them, and they both silenced instantly.

"Wait, so how did this happen?" Brooke asked making sure to keep her voice on a normal level.

Peyton retold the story of how she and Jake had gone out for a late night walk when he had finally grown a pair and told her how he felt, before they kissed and he asked her to go to the Halloween Bash with him. Okay so that wasn't exactly how Peyton had told the story, but it was how Haley had processed the information.

Peyton had just gone back to completing her makeup when she and Brooke exchanged a glance before turning to Haley.

"Haley, who is this Charlie guy you are taking to the dance?" Brooke asked. She was honestly disappointed that Haley wasn't going with Nathan, she was certain after last week that they would have buckled to the obvious sexual tension. But no.

"He's in my Algebra class. It's no big deal." Haley said, she really didn't want to talk about her upcoming date with Charlie because she didn't particularly want to go with him and she was pretty sure the only reason he asked her out was to make his ex- girlfriend jealous.

"Well it must be some kind of deal if you agreed to go with him." Peyton argued.

"Alright!" Haley cracked, "He's a nice guy, but a little boring. I didn't want to hurt his feelings and he looked like he was going to cry if I turned him down."

"Everything makes sense now." Peyton replied.

"I still don't understand why you didn't go with Nathan." Brooke grumbled.

"I don't know if you forgot but Nathan is going with Mackenzie." Haley reminded her friend.

"Yeah but he's not going with Mackenzie because he likes her." Brooke said, "I mean god who could like Mackenzie Payne. I'm pretty sure he's just doing it as a favour for one of his friends."

This was actually news to Haley but she tried her hardest not to let that show upon her features.

"Are you seriously going to deny that you like him?" Peyton asked. If was obvious to everyone except apparently Nathan and Haley that they completely into each other.

"We're just friends." Haley snapped, surprised at the sudden weight in those words as she spoke them.

"Haley James you spent the entirety of last Friday night curled up on his lap." Brooke said, pointing her pin cushion at Haley.

Haley felt a sudden heat rise to her cheeks, "There was an earthquake!"

"He literally started carrying around one of your inhalers in case you ever have another Asthma attack." Brooke said, "You're practically married!"

Haley scoffed, "Don't be ridiculous."

"Alright, I'll drop the topic for now." Brooke finally gave in knowing her ever stubborn friend wasn't going to change her stance, "But only because you amazing friend Brooke Davis has finished your exceptional and professionally made costume."

Brooke held up the long lilac blue princess dress for Haley with a smile. Haley held it up against her body as she stood in front of the full length mirror.

"Cinderella?" She questioned softly.

"Just like when we were kids, huh Hales." Brooke replied.

* * *

Nathan's date was going shit.

If he could have thought of a word that exceed the meaning of the word shit he would have used it, but unfortunately for him English was really not his thing. Well actually most school subjects weren't his thing.

He hadn't even wanted to go to this dance with Mackenzie but had practically been forced into a date with the girl. Tim had been wanting to go out with Mackenzie's friend Theresa since freshman year and she only would have agreed to go with Tim if Nathan went with Mackenzie.

It wasn't like there was anyone else he would have wanted to take. _Except Haley._ The obnoxious voice in his head jeered. Nathan knew she had had a date to the dance already.

He had spent practically the first portion of the evening standing awkwardly in his batman costume trying to avoid Mackenzie as she tried to practically molest him on the dance floor. It was weird because just last year Nathan would have been all for sleeping with any random girl that showed interest in him. But now her floozy attempts made him feel a bit uncomfortable and annoyed.

It had taken an hour but Nathan had finally successfully ditched Mackenzie and was taking shelter at the entrance to the Mirror Maze. He knew no one would show up there as no one ever actually used the Maze at the Halloween Bashes. Probably because it really just was what it sounded like; a maze full of mirrors. It really wasn't that interesting.

On the other side of the hall decked with every Halloween decoration ever, Haley was having an equally horrible night.

Firstly Charlie hadn't shown up in a costume. Which made him the only student, out of hundreds of others in costume, who had decided to wear jeans. Granted he had taken the liberty of writing 'Costume' across his t-shirt in wonky permanent marker lettering. And after only a few awkward rambling math related conversations Charlie had ditched her to grind against his ex-girlfriend who had come dressed as a literal Tardis.

She was about to go find her friends when she saw Rachel stalking in her general direction dressed in a slutty rendition of The Evil Queen's outfit. Fitting.

Without thinking Haley scooped up her long lilac blue dress and ran as fast as she could over to the section of the enormous hall that seemed practically empty. She glanced briefly at the sign 'Mirror Maze' before ducking into the entrance.

"Haley?" Nathan asked in shock, staring at the girl in front of him with an awed expression present on his face. She was dressed in a lengthy mauve blue dress, her long honey blonde hair was down in loose curls and Nathan had to literally bite his tongue to stop himself from saying something about how insanely beautiful she looked. She always did, but tonight it was a different sort of beauty. A more regal kind. Nathan wasn't sure which he preferred.

"Nathan what on earth are you doing here?" Haley asked, recognizing him instantly as soon as he pulled off his Batman mask.

"I would assume the same as you." Nathan replied, "Hiding."

"Was Mackenzie that bad at kissing?" Haley joked. Not at all finding Nathan putting his face anywhere near Mackenzie Payne a laughing matter but joking with him about it anyway. She had to assume that Nathan had kissed her tonight, she knew he had been with a lot of girls.

"I didn't kiss her you dork." Nathan nudged Haley in the side lightly, "She's just kind of a bitch, and I'd rather hang out here all night then continue my date with her."

"Harsh." Haley replied, silently knowing Mackenzie deserved it.

"What about you Haley James?" Nathan asked, "Where's Prince Charming?" He was slightly scared of the wave of jealously he felt when he thought about Haley on a date with some random guy.

"Probably continuing to dry hump his ex-girlfriend on the dance floor." Haley responded.

"What a dick." Nathan said, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Haley smiled, "I never actually liked Charlie. I just didn't want to hurt his feelings when he asked me."

"Well aren't you just a model citizen." Nathan teased.

"Shut up." She poked her tongue out at him, not caring that she looked like an over grown five year old.

"Haley I've been meaning to ask you something. Remember when I promised that I wouldn't tell anyone about you keeping your cat on campus? Well I kind of need to call in my favour." Nathan ran a hand nervously through his hair and looked down almost like he was…embarrassed. "I really need to pass my subjects this semester, and you're like the smartest person I know. If it's not too much of a hassle, do you mind tutoring me?"

Haley stared at Nathan in surprise. She didn't think he actually cared about his grades in the slightest. She wasn't sure if she had time right now to take on a Nathan's work as well. But she did really want to help him. Haley bit down on her bottom lip and was about reply when she was interrupted.

"Nathan!" A Mackenzie sounding screech suddenly signalled from remarkably close to where they were standing.

"I think that's your cue Batman." Haley said.

"Which way is she coming from?" Nathan asked quickly.

"Left…" Haley replied.

"Then I'm going right." Nathan said, "See you later Cinderella." He winked at her before leaving with a swish of his dark cape.

Haley walked slowly out of the entrance to the Mirror Maze. However, she immediately sprinted back inside when she saw Rachel coming in her direction. She did not need her torment tonight. Then without another thought she ran directly into the dreaded Mirror Maze.

Within seconds Haley was unmistakably lost. She had already walked into three mirrors and couldn't shake the constant feeling she was being watched.

She was beginning to think she was properly losing her mind when she heard it. A low pitched psychotic giggle. Haley whirled around and immediately came face to face with the worst thing she could have imagined coming out of that maze. She would have preferred it be Rachel she was currently facing, and that was saying something. A clown. An inhumanly grinning clown holding a large knife dripping with crimson blood.

Haley had let out a large high pitched scream and punched it in the stomach before she even had time to think. She then turned and started to sprint madly through the maze. She had one arm wildly waving out in front of her so that she wouldn't bash into any mirrors, and the other was rapidly wiping away the stray tears of fear that were leaking from her eyes as she ran.

Nathan had managed to loosely escape Mackenzie, but unfortunately for him avoiding her meant spending the rest of his evening at the exit for the Mirror Maze. That's when he heard the scream and stood up from where he was previously crouching on the floor. Suddenly a petite blonde girl in a long blue dress ran into the larger space at the exit to the Mirror Maze.

"Haley?" Nathan called in confusion.

Haley reeled around as soon as she heard Nathan's voice. A rush of relief pulsed through her and she could not remember a time she had been happier to see him. Thinking the clown was still gaining on her she made a split second decision before barrelling into Nathan's chest and throwing her arms around him tightly. Some might call her 'avoidance' of clowns childish, but those things were terrifying goddammit. And this one had been carrying a freshly used knife. Haley pressed her face into his muscular chest and tried to block out the current situation.

Nathan was momentarily taken aback for a brief second before he tightly wrapped his arms around Haley's smaller frame. He absentmindedly started to rub comforting circles on her back through the fabric of her dress. She was breathing quite heavily against his chest, and Nathan could feel her whole body clench up with each breathe. He knew she had been crying.

"Haley." Nathan murmured, "Hales what's wrong?"

Inside of replying she started to continuously shake her head back and forth against Nathan's chest and refused to pull away.

Nathan squeezed her gently in his arms before resting his chin on top of her head, "You're okay Hales you're okay. Nothing can hurt you. I promise I'm not going to let anything hurt you. You're safe." He soothed softly, rubbing his hands up and down her back. He wasn't sure what she was so freaked out about but whatever it was, what he had just said would remain the same.

Haley moved her face up cautiously. Nathan smiled at her softly, a smile he found himself only ever giving her. He then brushed his thumb gently under both her big brown eyes, ridding them of the tear tracks.

Haley was just about to tell Nathan what had actually happened when the sound of sadistic cackling filled her ears. As soon as the clown clutching the knife shifted into Haley's line of sight, she couldn't stop the embarrassing squeal from leaving her mouth. She then pulled herself away from Nathan and slammed herself into the mirror behind him, trying to create as much distance between her and the psycho clown as possible.

As soon as Haley was safely behind him Nathan surged forward and thrust his fist straight into the 'clowns' face. A crack was heard and before the boy even had time to react in pain Nathan had him slammed against a mirror.

With the free hand that wasn't grasping the scarlet stained knife, the boy reached up and yanked the clown mask off his face. Once the mask was off the bloodied face of Felix Taggaro was revealed.

"Nathan man, it was just a joke." Felix spluttered, "Just trying to make some bitch scream."

Wrong word choice Felix.

Rage cut through Nathan like a sharp knife and he brought his fist angrily across Felix's face in answer to his statement.

"If you ever and I mean ever mess with her again I will break more than just your nose." Nathan growled, his voice dangerously calm but Haley could hear the slight tremble of fury pulsate through. He then dropped Felix to the ground, who sprinted off with his hand covering his face.

Last year he probably wouldn't have let Felix go. He would have beaten the shit out of him until someone physically separated them and Nathan got suspended again. But it was different now. What fuelled his anger was different. And now there was something that could stop his rage immediately in its tracks.

Nathan turned to look at Haley, dreading the disappointed look he was bound to get. However, she didn't look disappointed. Maybe a little shocked, but mostly like she was weighting up her options.

"I'm sorry." Nathan raked a hand through his dark hair, "I shouldn't have done that."

"You're right you shouldn't have done that." Haley said, she then paused briefly weighing her choices in her mind quickly before coming to a decision, "But I'm really glad you did."

Then almost on a whim Haley launched herself at Nathan and hugged him tightly. Nathan's arms automatically went around her waist but barely had time to register what had just happened before Haley leaped away from him, and started looking at everything in the room that wasn't him. A faint blush started to tinge on her cheeks.

"I sorry about being so freaked out before." Haley muttered, toeing the wooden floorboards with her shoe, "I know it's really stupid that I'm still scared of clowns."

"It's not stupid." Nathan answered immediately. He couldn't believe she was actually apologizing to him for this. "Everyone is scared of something."

"Is your hand okay?" Haley asked softly, hesitating for a moment before going against her better judgement and gently taking his hand in hers to inspect.

"It's fine." Nathan winced, "I should probably stop punching people."

"Please." Haley replied.

Haley looked up at Nathan through her long eyelashes and was about to say something else to him when two people barged into the Mirror Maze. This caused Nathan and Haley to spring metres apart.

"Haley thank god we've been looking for you everywhere!" Brooke exclaimed loudly, not even noticing Nathan's presence, "The dance is basically over. Do you want to head back to the dorm room with us?"

"Um yeah." Haley said, fiddling with a lock of her hair.

Peyton looked back and forth between Nathan and Haley for a moment before speaking, "What happened here?"

Nathan looked over at Haley briefly who had suddenly become transfixed with a miniscule spot on the wooden flooring. The last thing Haley wanted to do with her already crappy evening was explain to Brooke and Peyton her embarrassing fear of clowns.

"Haley was just helping me." Nathan spoke up suddenly, "There was this massive spider in the maze and I freaked out. She helped me kill it." The lie slipped off his lips effortlessly.

Brooke and Peyton chuckled loudly. "There goes a point for masculinity Nathan." Peyton teased.

"Come on Haley lets go." Brooke said, motioning for Haley to follow her as her and Peyton said goodbye to Nathan and left through the exit of the maze.

"I'll do it." Haley murmured, finally making up her mind.

"Do what?" Nathan asked.

"I'll tutor you." Haley said, before briskly walking in the direction of the exit.

 **AN: Damn that was a long one, I hope you all enjoyed it!  
** **Thank you to all the people who reviewed last chapter, it really motivates me to keep writing.  
Please let me know what you thought of the chapter and what your thinking of the story so far.  
Thanks! **

**-Rosie**


	9. Eccendentesiast

**Chapter 9: Eccendentesiast- someone who hides pain behind a smile.**

Nathan had actually shown up on time for tutoring that night.

Haley almost dropped her extra-large coffee when she walked into the tutor centre and saw him already sitting at their usual table.

"What are you doing here?" Haley asked, sitting at the table and setting down her books.

"You told me to meet you here at 5." Nathan said, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, "It's 5."

"This is the first time you've shown up on time. I'm impressed." Haley replied.

"And I'm offended by your lack of faith in me." Nathan responded mockingly.

"Let's just start okay." Haley rolled her eyes and pushed Nathan a practice math test. Nathan smirked at her briefly before taking the worksheet.

It had been ten minutes and Nathan was still stuck on the first problem. They had gone over how to do these kind of mathematical problems in their last tutoring session, but it had already slipped his mind. Just like everything else that had to do school.

Nathan released a frustrated groan before slamming his pencil down on the table, "There's no point in this Haley. I'm never going to get it. I'm so stupid."

The worst part about this was that it would mean his father was right. Maybe he was just an idiot.

"You are not stupid Nathan." Haley said firmly, "Sometimes you make stupid choices." She gestured to the slight bruising on the side of his face from a previous fight. "But you are not stupid. There's a difference."

She then picked up the pencil he had thrown and passed it to him before moving over to sit beside him. "Do you want me to go through it again?" Haley asked. When he nodded she started to re-explain how to get the solution to the problem.

Nathan was trying to listen to Haley as she sprouted mathematical terms out of her mouth. God he was trying. But there was a weak beam of light flooding into the tutor centre through a shaft in the window, and it was illuminating her honey blonde hair and the side of her face. He watched as she absentmindedly tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and bit down slightly of her pink bottom lip before continuing in explain the problem. Nathan didn't understand how she could look so beautiful. Sure, he had seen a lot of hot girls in his 16 years on earth but none of them had the raw beauty that Haley had. He hated himself for feeling this way because he knew it was one-sided, and he didn't want to screw up the friendship they had started.

"Nathan are you okay?" Nathan snapped out of his daze as Haley looked at him in concern.

He made an unintelligent noise of agreement whilst nodding his head wildly.

"Do you want to move onto English?" She asked.

Nathan nodded but was silently screaming on the inside. There were few things in the world he was worst at then math. English happened to be one of those things.

Haley watched Nathan squint at the large chunk of words in front of him for a few minutes before she spoke. "Nathan why didn't you tell me you were Dyslexic?"

Nathan almost fell off his chair in shock. "How did you know that?" He hadn't told anyone. Ever. The only people who knew were Lucas, and Lucas' mother Karen who had been there when he had found out.

"I used to tutor my little cousin when I was younger. She had Dyslexia." Haley explained, "I don't understand why you didn't tell me. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

Nathan released a small humourless laugh, "You should talk to my father about that. When I was younger I was having so much trouble with school. Even more so then, if you can believe that. It wasn't I was ten but couldn't read at a kindergarteners level that I figured out something was wrong. I asked my dad if he would take me to go get checked, and he point blank refused. He said that even if there was something wrong he didn't want anyone to put a label on it. He told me he couldn't live with himself if he knew his son was an idiot. I had to get Lucas and Karen to take me to actually get diagnosed."

"God I'm sorry Nathan." Haley responded softly, "But your dad is only one person. I meant what I said before. You are not stupid. I promise I'm going to help you get better at your school work. Nathan this is something you suffer from, it's not who you are."

Nathan looked up at her, his eyes were clouded with such a thick amount of raw emotion Haley just wanted to hug him.

"Thanks Hales." Nathan managed to choke out. He hated himself for feeling so emotional about this, but she had just told him the one thing he had always wanted someone to say to him.

"Well I think that's enough for today." Haley said brightly, trying extensively hard to make Nathan feel better.

They had both stood up and were walking to the closed door of the tutor centre when loud crash of thunder cut through the air and all the lights in the tutor centre flickered off.

Haley squeaked in surprise and dropped her textbooks to the ground with a loud clatter. A crack of lightning ripped through the dark like a clawed hand and illuminated the blackening sky. At the next loud rumble of thunder Haley gave into the fear that had previously keep her mounted to the floor and practically threw herself at Nathan.

Although her fear of thunderstorms embarrassed her, she would rather deal with future ridicule then bursting into tears from her pounding fear. Haley bunched Nathan's shirt between her small fists and squeezed her eyes shut. An intense feeling of panic settled over her like the old familiar blanket it was.

Nathan wound his arms around her before running his hands up and down her rigid back, feeling the unmistakable tension present there.

"It's okay Hales." Nathan murmered, "The storm just caused the power to go out. Let's just get out of here okay."

Nathan moved slightly backwards so he could open the door to the tutoring centre, but Haley gripped his shirt tighter and pulled him back.

"Don't leave." Haley said, her eyes were wide with fear and her voice was raised an octave higher than it usually was.

Haley hated herself for how scared she was.

"Hey, I'm not leaving you. I promise." Nathan caressed her face gently in an attempt to comfort her, "I'm just going to open the door okay."

Haley nodded, untangling her hands from his shirt. She blushed slightly in humiliation and for the first time was glad it was dark so Nathan couldn't see her now beetroot red face.

"Haley we have a problem." Nathan said, from where he was standing by the door. "The door's electronic. It won't open until the power turns back on. I guess we're stuck in here until then."

"You've got to be kidding me." Haley said, her voice raising slightly in hysteria.

She couldn't be stuck in here. Not with the power out and the crashing thunder caving her skull in on itself. She sunk down against the wall and put her head in her hands.

"Hales it's going to be okay." Nathan promised, noticing her silence and defeated posture. He crossed over to where she had collapsed. He sat down beside her, and debated with himself internally for a moment before wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

Haley instantly leaned into his warm body and without thinking rested her head on Nathan's chest. She was surprised at the immediate sense of safety she received from simply being without a close proximity of Nathan.

"Do you want to play a game?" Nathan asked, "To get your mind off the storm."

"What did you have in mind?" Haley shifted her head up slightly to look at him.

"20 questions?"

"Okay you go first." Haley responded, her breathing hitching slightly when Nathan absentmindedly took her hand in his and laced their fingers together.

"Alright, besides storms and clowns. Is there anything else I should know you are afraid of?" Nathan asked, receiving a sharp jab in the side from Haley when he listed off her earlier revealed fears.

"Well besides my completely rational fear of clowns." Haley defended herself, poking her tongue out at Nathan. "I guess small spaces. It's not that they scare me, more that I get insanely claustrophobic in them. Oh, and when I was a kid I was terrified of jelly."

"Jelly?" Nathan asked in amusement.

"Yes jelly." Haley couldn't help but laugh as well, "I'm not even sure why. All I know is that every time I saw it I would start screaming hysterically. My family was no help. My siblings spent half their time chasing me around the house with it. They were really mean." She pouted, and Nathan couldn't help but laugh loudly at her confession.

"Shut up." Haley tried to look annoyed but couldn't help the smile that broke out on her face. She didn't even hear the next boom of thunder. "Okay hotshot what about you?"

"I hate heights." Nathan confessed. It was the first time he had ever actually told anyone that.

" _The_ Nathan Scott is afraid of heights." Haley teased, resting her head on his shoulder when he pouted at her.

"Shut up." Nathan said.

"I'm sorry." Haley tried to choke back the smile threatening to break onto her face, "Hey, it's less embarrassing then my fears."

"What did you even do last time there was a storm?" Nathan asked, playing with Haley's fingers.

"Peyton and Brooke sat in the cupboard with me and we listened to one of Peyton's Fall Out Boy CD's on full volume until it finished." Haley confessed.

Nathan laughed, "Seriously?"

"Yep. Okay my question." Haley said, "If there was a zombie apocalypse, what would your weapon of choice be?

"Hm." Nathan said, "Possibly a gun with a silencer. It would probably just be easier to blow off their heads then to cut them off."

"Graphic." Haley replied, "I'd probably go with a motorbike."

"That's not a weapon." Nathan nudged her with his shoulder.

"Yeah but it would mean that I could simply get as far away from the apocalypse as possible." Haley pointed out, "And I like to think that in this alternative universe I would actually have to balls to ride a motorbike."

"I know how to." Nathan said, "I'll teach you one day." Haley's eyes widened comically at the thought, and Nathan laughed at her expression.

"What's your middle name?" He asked.

Haley sighed, "Bob."

"Bob?" Nathan laughed, "Why?"

"I was named after my parents old cat." Haley said.

"Well at least you were named after something people liked." Nathan replied, "My middle name's Royal."

"Fitting." She teased.

"Hah hah." Nathan replied, poking her in the side. "After my grandfather. No one likes him. He's almost as bad as my father."

"Well Nathan Royal Scott I think it suits you." Haley chuckled.

"You too, Haley Bob James." Nathan responded. Haley found she didn't actually hate her full name that much when Nathan said it.

"Do you have any scars?" Haley asked.

"Yeah." Nathan shifted his shirt up slightly so she could see the thin white mark stretching across his hip. "When Lucas and I were kids we stayed with our grandparents for one summer. We were on their balcony wrestling, and I jumped on his back but ended up going over the edge of the balcony."

"Holy shit." Haley murmured.

"Yeah I broke my wrist and landed on this massive nail which went into my hip." Nathan said, tugging down his shirt. "What about you Haley James?"

She moved her hand up to shift the neckline of her shirt. He could see a long white scar on her shoulder.

"My brother and sister, Taylor and Jeremy, are twins." Haley started, "They're three years older than me, and when we were younger they used to constantly get into these fully fledged prank wars. When they were eleven and I was eight they were in the middle of this massive fight. Taylor unhinged all the doors to the cabinets in the kitchen, thinking that when Jeremy came down to get food one of the doors would fall on him. Unfortunately for me, I was hungry. I had to climb on top of the countertop to reach the cabinet because I used to be really short."

"Used to be." Nathan teased, shutting up when Haley punched him in the shoulder.

"Anyway, when I opened the cabinet it fell out of the wall and knocked me off the countertop. I also managed to pull some china plates out of the cabinet which fell on me and caused this scar." Haley finished.

There was silence for a few moments and for the first time in a while Haley was able to hear the distant roar of thunder. She noticeably flinched and turned to bury her face in the space between Nathan's shoulder and neck.

"Hales." Nathan murmured after a few minutes, "Why are you scared of thunderstorms?" He wasn't sure why but he was dreading the answer.

"If I told you, you'd never look at me the same again." Haley said, her voice thick with choked back tears.

"I promise whatever it is won't change anything." Nathan replied, squeezing her hand in his.

Haley sucked in a long shaky breath, "It was six years ago."

 _Ten year old Haley James sat in the back of her father's convertible amidst the many empty beer bottles. She was smart for a child, so knew what used to be in the bottles. She just wasn't aware of the effect the stuff her father stashed under the kitchen sink and in his car had on him._

 _"Daddy are you alright?" Haley asked softly from the backseat of the car._

 _He father didn't answer, instead groaned and leaned over the car wheel as he continued driving down the dark road. It was a normal night of drinking for Jimmy James. However, this was the first time Haley had been the car with her father when he was wasted._

 _"Dad's fine." Emmett, Haley's seventeen year old brother turned around from the passenger seat of the car and smiled at her reassuringly. "Maybe you should let me drive Dad?" Emmett lowered his voice so his younger sister couldn't hear him. Jimmy made a string of protest that involved some swearing and tightened his grip on the wheel._

 _Jimmy James loved his children. Always had, always would. But the depression had gotten worse. He wasn't the man he used to be._

 _Haley reached a hand up and pushed away a strand of soaked blonde hair away from her face. Her dad had forgotten to close the roof to the car again. She didn't mind though, she liked the rain. Even though it was a little cold. They were on their way back from picking Emmett up from a party. It was really late, there were no other cars on the road._

 _A loud crash on thunder broke through the air, and Haley looked up in wonder as lighting split open the dark sky._

 _Suddenly Jimmy's hand slipped on the wheel, and he keeled over in complete intoxication. The car spun a few times before it smashed into a large pine tree._

 _A scream pierced the air and it took a while before Haley realized it was her own._

 _"Emmett?" Haley sobbed, "Daddy?" She tried to move from the back seat of the car, but the whole front of the car was mutilated and the front seats had moved back, locking Haley into place. The rain had stopped but the thunder was getting noticeably louder._

 _She could see the unmoving body of her brother in the front seat. Blood dripping slowly from his forehead, his chest still. Her father was passed out beside him. She wasn't sure if he was dead or drunk._

"The storm was really bad so no one found me for six hours." Haley continued, clasping her hands together to stop them from shaking. "Emmett died on impact. My dad wasn't dead, but he went to jail for manslaughter. After that everything just fell apart. Everyone reacted differently. For the first few months my mum tried to keep Emmett alive in our thoughts. Too alive. She still set a place for him at the dinner table, she kept his room intact like he was just away on camp and would come home soon. I think she said it to herself so many times over that it had managed to wrap itself around her brain until it felt like the truth. Eventually I think she came to terms with the fact that Emmett wasn't coming back. She cracked, and we moved. Since then we haven't stayed in one place for more than a month. As soon as my mum sees something that reminds her of Emmett or Dad she loses it and we move again. I think she still loved my Dad, even after what he did. When she married him he was a different person I guess."

"Where's your dad now?" Nathan asked softly.

"He was in jail for a few years, but last year he killed himself. They said they couldn't stop him." She said.

"Haley…" Nathan trailed off. He didn't know what to say to her. He knew what it was like to go through something traumatic like that and it sucked.

Not able to find the right words he wrapped his arms around her and gently pulled her towards him. The second Haley's head hit Nathan's chest she burst into tears. Years of pent up emotions that she hadn't felt like she could express to anyone leaked out of her all at once. Her small frame began to wrack with sobs as they came out louder and harder with each uneven breath.

"I got you Hales." Nathan soothed, holding her as close as he could to his body. "You're okay, I got you." He ran his hand gently through her hair and then kept his hand on the back of her head. With his other hand he continuously rubbed circles on her back.

They sat on the cold tile floor of the tutoring centre for what could have been minutes or hours. Haley's heart wrenching sobs had been reduced to occasional sniffles.

Nathan pressed a kiss to her hairline and kept his lips there as he murmured against her hair, "Haley, do Brooke and Peyton know?" Nathan wasn't sure about Peyton, but he knew Brooke had known Haley longer then all of them.

"Brooke knows Emmett died. She doesn't know I was there." Haley said, turning her head to the side so it was still resting on Nathan but she could talk freely, "And she doesn't know about my dad. I just haven't felt like there was ever a good time to tell her. Or Peyton for that matter."

"You know they love you no matter what." Nathan murmured, "They wouldn't judge you. None of us would."

"I know." Haley sighed, "It's just that at the last school I went to when everyone found out they all started treating different. Like I was broken, and everyone kept trying to fix me."

"I don't think you need to be fixed." Nathan said.

"You don't?" She couldn't deny the fact that she sounded like she was going to erupt into tears again.

"You were never broken in the first place." Nathan whispered, "At least not to me."

Haley looked up at him with a watery tear streaked smile, "You still have one question left."

"Will you dance with me?" Nathan asked.

"What? Why?" Haley asked.

"We might as well practice for the Cotillion. In case you didn't notice we kind of suck." Nathan unravelled himself from Haley before standing up and pulling her off the floor. The truth is dancing was the first thing that had popped into his mind. He just really wanted to take her mind off the storm and the memories that were probably flashing before her eyes.

Although their dancing was quite horrendous and unappealing to the eyes both of them were enjoying it. Haley giggled loudly as Nathan spun her in a circle. She almost bashed into a table and laughed when Nathan pulled her back as to avoid getting hit.

"This is tragic." Haley murmured.

"So are we." Nathan said, spinning her around again.

Suddenly a deafening roar of thunder broke though the laughter and Haley squealed in surprise and ran into Nathan's already outstretched arms.

They continued to rock back and forth as Nathan started to hum a tune. He knew it sounded terrible, she knew it sounded terrible. But they danced to it nonetheless.

"Thanks for not being a prick about this Nate." Haley mumbled, from where her face was pressed against his shoulder.

"Anything for you Haley James." He spoke in a teasing tone, but deep down he knew he was serious.

* * *

It was around and hour later when Nathan carried a sleeping Haley out of the tutor centre. She had fallen asleep on him a while ago and when the electricity came back on he didn't have the heart to wake her up. She had had a really tough night.

Meanwhile in their dorm room Brooke and Peyton were staring out their window in concern.

"It's eleven and she's still not back." Peyton said, "Should we try and find her?"

"I'm sure she's fine." Brooke replied, trying to push down her own worry.

"The storm was bad…" Peyton trailed off warily.

"Wait is that her…and Nathan?" Brooke asked, as she saw Nathan approaching the building nestling a limp Haley against his chest. "Pretend to be asleep." Brooke shoved Peyton away from the window and in the direction of her bed.

"Ow!" Peyton exclaimed, "What the hell! Why?"

"I just want to see what he'll do." Brooke exclaimed, "You know you want to know for sure that he likes her."

"I really do." Peyton sighed, before turning off her light as Brooke did the same.

Nathan softly creaked open the door to Haley's dorm room. After checking to make sure both Brooke and Peyton were asleep he entered the room with her. He was actually quite proud of himself for managing to keep her asleep during the entire walk back to her room.

He walked over to Haley's bed at the back corner of the room and sat down on the side resting her in his lap. He then delicately tugged off her shoes and placed them beside her bed. Nathan then pulled back the comforter and detached Haley's small hands from where they were gripping his shirt tightly.

Feeling like a complete pansy he pulled the comforter back up and tucked her into the bed. Nathan then tenderly brushed the honey blonde hair away from her face and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead before turning around to leave the room.

He almost had a heart attack when he turned because both Brooke and Peyton had risen from their beds and were smirking at him widely.

"Hey." Nathan said softly. He shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to act like him being in their dorm room at eleven at night, tucking their best friend into bed was a completely normal occurrence.

"Please tell me you two got together?" Brooke questioned, lowering her voice when Nathan glared at her.

"It's not like that." Nathan kicked at the ground softly.

"Because you think she doesn't like you, and that you're not good for her." Peyton continued.

Nathan looked up at them in shock, and Peyton knew she had hit the nail right on the head.

"Nate, she's totally into you." Brooke said, "And after that display I sure as hell know you're into her."

A sure giggle erupted from both Brooke and Peyton's mouths as Nathan reddened slightly in the face. That had to be the first time the guy had even come close to blushing.

"It can't happen." Nathan said firmly, before turning and leaving the room much to Brooke and Peyton's dismay.

Haley had already been through enough without him causing her trouble.

 **AN:  
Gosh Nathan how oblivious can you be?!  
So this chapter explained quite a bit of Haley's past which I hope although sad you all enjoyed.  
Please let me know what you think and I'll update as soon as I can!  
Merry Christmas beautiful readers and reviewers!**

 **-Rosie**


	10. Alexithymia

**Chapter 10: Alexithymia: Inability to describe emotions verbally.**

The Rosalie Institute wasn't actually as depressing as Haley thought it would be.

Although the building was large and made solely out of grey brick, there was a park surrounding the building which leaked some sense of tangible happiness. Haley fiddled with the window shutters allowing a beam of weak sunlight to flood into the small room.

It was the first time Haley had been able to visit her sister. Vivian had been allowed to have visitors since the previous week and since it was a Saturday, Haley had taken the train to the Institute.

"Viv, how are you feeling?" Haley asked gently, sitting on the end of Vivian's bed. Her sister bunched her white sheets up in her fists and brought her hazy blue eyes down from where they had been fixated on the ceiling so that she was looking at Haley. Vivian shrugged, her eyes pooling with noticeable tears.

"I'm so sorry I didn't realise how unhappy you were." Haley said, trying to choke down the intense guilt she was feeling.

"It's okay." Vivian responded softly. "Hay? Can I have a hug?" The broken tone of her voice hadn't changed.

Haley nodded her head, moving to sit beside Vivian on the bed before wrapping her arms tightly around her older sister. When they moved back Vivian leaned down to rest her head on Haley's chest. It was weird, Vivian was five years older than Haley and when they were younger it would have been the other way around. It was time for Haley to be the strong one.

"Mum hasn't visited me." Vivian croaked, she paused for a moment before continuing, "She's not going to, is she?"

Haley took in a deep shaky breath. She knew how much her mother wanted to come see Vivian, but she also knew she never would. This whole situation reminded her mother to much of her father.

"Viv, I know mum really wants to see you." Haley started gently, "She's just really busy right now."

The lie sounded pathetic, even to Haley who had uttered it.

"She hates me doesn't she?" Vivian asked sounding on the verge of breaking down in tears. Haley opened her mouth to disagree but Vivian continued. "Everyone hates me. I mean I don't blame them. I hate me too."

"Vivian that's not true." Haley disagreed, her voice thick with unshed tears. "You're my big sister, and I love you so much."

Vivian looked up at her with large glassy eyes and Haley turned to rummage through her bag.

"I brought you something." Haley said, finally grasping onto what she was looking for and passing it to Vivian.

"Mr Waffles?" Vivian asked, looking down at the teddy bear Haley had had since childhood. "You love this bear."

"I think you need it more than me right now." Haley said.

"Thank you." Vivian murmured sincerely, a tear streaking down her face and Haley reached out to brush it away. "Haley?" She asked a moment later.

"Yeah?"

"I'm really sad." Vivian clutched onto the teddy bear and turned away from Haley. Haley didn't know what to say to that. She wanted to help her sister more than anything.

But how do you save someone who doesn't want to be saved?

Ten minutes later she walked quickly through the waiting room of the Institute. She really didn't like the inside of this place. They had obviously attempted to make it seem optimistic by painting the walls yellow and positioning bouquets of flowers at every literal area of the room. But honestly the whole place just seemed really off, dreary and well… sad.

"Haley?" The voice made her turn around instantly. A wave of shock radiated through her as she saw Nathan sitting at one of the chairs in the waiting room.

"What are you doing here?" Haley asked, moving over to where he was seated and taking the seat beside him.

"I could ask you the same thing." Nathan replied.

Haley tucked her legs onto the seat and turned to Nathan just deciding to be honest with him. "You remember when I was upset a couple weeks ago." When he nodded in confirmation she continued. "Well one of my sister's Vivian tried to kill herself. She's staying here now, and I was just visiting her."

"That sucks." Nathan replied. He didn't apologize and she was grateful for that.

"What about you?" Haley asked curiously.

Nathan froze for a moment. No one besides Lucas knew about his Mum. But for some reason he felt like he could tell Haley anything without receiving judgement.

"It's my Mum." Nathan said, "She's lived here for a few years. She was a drug addict. After her and my Dad divorced she kind of lost it. One day she couldn't find her pills and she slit her wrists. She came really close to dying too, but she was found before she bleed out. Now she lives here. I was just visiting her."

Haley shook her head sadly. Nathan was staring down at his lap with a dejected expression painted on his face. She reached out and took his hand in hers, lacing their fingers together. Nathan looked up in surprise. He stared into her beautiful brown eyes and felt immensely better instantly, he couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from turning up into a small crooked smile.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" Nathan asked, "I could use a break before I have to go back in."

Haley nodded and Nathan stood, tugging her off the waiting room chair. They then walked into the outside park.

As it was nearing the end of November the freezing emotionless air sliced through the thin cotton of Haley's long sleeve shirt and nipped viciously at her exposed skin.

The sky was a lifeless grey colour and the clawed trees were now bare. A few stray autumn leaves shifted around their feet as they ambled down the cobblestone pathway.

"How's your sister?" Nathan asked, absentmindedly swinging their linked hands back and forth.

"Sad." Haley said, using the one word she could think of to describe her sister's disconnected and blank expression. "She didn't used to be like this."

"What did she used to be like?" Nathan prompted.

"She was happy." Haley murmured, "It was a long time ago, but I remember. Before Emmett's accident and my father's prosecution. She was fifteen. Believe it or not she was the most optimistic person in my entire family. Always cheerful, encouraging someone, never dwelling on the negatives. Then Emmett died. They were always close, Emmett only being two years older than her. It was like something inside her broke. She wasn't the same after that."

It was silent for a brief moment. The wind whispered through the leafless trees and Haley could hear the sound of Nathan's steady breathing beside her. He squeezed her hand gently and she immediately felt a rush of warmth flood through her.

"How about your mother?" She asked, blinking up at Nathan through her long dark eyelashes.

"The same as she's been for years. Which isn't a good thing." Nathan said, "She just seems detached. Like she's isolated herself from this world completely. She hasn't spoken a word to me in two years. I think she blames me."

"Nathan I'm sure that's not true." Haley responded, tightening her grip on his hand.

"Maybe not." He murmured, "But it sure feels like it."

At that exact moment a concentrated gust of wind ripped through the park. Haley couldn't stop the shudder that tore through her body. She rubbed her free hand up and down her arm in a vain attempt to generate some source of heat.

"Are you cold?" Nathan asked, mentally smacking himself for not noticing sooner.

"I'm fine." Haley protested. Nathan ignored her objections and pulled off Tree Hill Academy Ravens jacket. He then slipped her arms through the jacket, before fastening it up and rubbing her arms to produce warmth.

"Thanks." Haley sent him an embarrassed smile as they started walking again.

Without thinking Nathan reached out and entwined their fingers together again. A moment later he realized what he had done and a sense of mortification engulfed him. Haley saw his blue eyes widen dramatically and sensing he was going to pull away she quickly clutched his hand tighter.

"Sorry." Nathan mumbled. At point he wasn't sure exactly he was apologizing for.

"Don't apologize dummy." Haley giggled, nudging his shoulder with her own. "We're friends remember."

Just friends, yeah right.

* * *

Haley banged loudly on the door to her dorm room. It always sucked when she forgot her key because Peyton always had her music up too loud and Brooke was never bothered to move from her bed. So Haley always ended up standing outside for at least ten minutes until someone finally bothered to open the door.

She had just finished helping backstage on the musical with Nathan. Although she would deny it if asked she actually had quite a bit of fun there, and was growing pretty fond of the ninth graders there were helping out.

"Jesus Haley!" Brooke said, swinging the door open, a toothbrush dangling from her mouth. "You'd think there was a flesh eating zombie chasing you."

"Just the impending doom of the family visiting weekend." Haley said, walking to their room and plopping down on her bed.

"I'm actually looking forward to seeing my dad." Peyton smiled.

"Well you actually get along with you dad P. Sawyer." Brooke pointed out. "My parents are even bothering to come down. What about you Hales? Anyone from your family coming to see you?"

"My mum's not coming." Haley replied, fiddling with the bottom of her sweater. "I think Quinn and Taylor are dropping by tomorrow afternoon."

In the room next door the flamboyant knocking on the wooden door frame caused Nathan to exit the bathroom and yank it open.

"Bad news little brother." Lucas said, storming into the room.

"Oh come right on in." Nathan said sarcastically, closing the door to his room.

"Dan's coming." Lucas interrupted.

"Fuck!" Nathan swore, he raked his hand nervously through his hair, "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Don't worry, my mum's coming." Lucas rationalized, "We can just hang out with her."

"Luke you can, but Karen doesn't have any custody over me." Nathan said, "It Dan wants to see me he'll find a way to do so."

* * *

"Boys!" Karen Roe yelled loudly. She practically ran across the courtyard before throwing her arms around Lucas. "Nathan what are you doing just standing there? Come here." Karen crushed Nathan in her arms as well, before squeezing both of the boys who were a good foot taller than her.

Nathan wished Karen was his real mother. Then he wouldn't have to live with Dan.

"I am so happy to see you both." Karen exclaimed, "Gosh you have to tell me everything that has happened."

Five minutes later they were seated at a table in the school ball room. Every time there was a family visiting day the school decked the ball room out with hundreds of pristine tables and literally every food you could imagine.

"So Brooke and I are dating." Lucas announced, chomping his way around a chicken drumstick.

"Lucas that's wonderful." Karen beamed, a moment later her face grew stern, "And chew with your mouth closed."

Lucas rolled his eyes and continued eating. "So what about you Nathan?" Karen turned to him, "Have you finally decided to settle down with a girl?"

Lucas proceeded to make large spectacle of coughing really loudly before choking out, "Haley James."

Nathan whipped around to glower at him but it was too late.

"Who's Haley?!" Karen questioned excitedly.

"She's new this year." Lucas clarified.

"And she's your girlfriend." Karen cooed, smirking largely at Nathan.

"She's not my girlfriend." Nathan mumbled, "We're just friends."

"He's madly in love with her." Lucas said.

"Dude what the hell!" Nathan hit him on the shoulder.

"Geez Nate, you know it's true." Lucas whined childishly, rubbing him arm.

"Will I get to meet this Haley?" Karen asked.

"That's her." Lucas spoke before Nathan could answer.

Haley and Brooke had just entered the ball room with the intent of getting some food. As neither of their parents had come to see them they were hanging out instead.

Lucas yelled loudly and waved them over to their table. Nathan folded up his arms and attempted to hide behind them.

"Hey Karen!" Brooke squealed excitedly.

"Good to see you again Brooke." Karen smiled, "I heard about you and Lucas."

"Yeah." Brooke beamed, and moved over to sit on Lucas' lap.

"You must be Haley." Karen looked up in Haley's direction. "Nathan's told me all about you."

Oh. My. God. Nathan cringed, someone hit him on the head with a frying pan and end this nightmare.

"He has?" Haley raised an eyebrow at Nathan in question, who in return shook his head madly.

"Please Haley sit down." Karen smiled, pulling out a chair for Haley to take a seat in. "So dear, what made you decide to start at Tree Hill Academy?"

"Well I've always known it existed, as used to visit Tree Hill a lot when I was a kid. But a spot opened up at the start of the year, and I was offered a scholarship so that's when I decided to come here." Haley said.

Nathan couldn't help the spark of pride he felt in his chest at her words. He smiled softly in her direction. Karen noticed immediately and grinned at him.

"So Haley," Karen gushed, "Nathan tells me-" She was interrupted by Nathan 'accidently' knocking over a water glass.

"No no no. We're going to go." Nathan warned, glaring at Karen and Lucas before getting up from the table and taking Haley's hand. He then proceeded to practically drag her out of the ball room.

"Lovely to meet you." Haley called over her shoulder.

The sound of Karen, Lucas, and Brooke's laughter could be heard even after they left the ball room.

* * *

Half an hour later they were lying on their backs on Nathan's bed in silence staring at the ceiling. His iPod lay between them as they shared a pair of earphones. The curtains were pulled shut causing the room to seem dim and a bit hazy.

"Karen seems nice." Haley said, breaking through the stillness.

"I'm sorry about that." Nathan replied.

"You ever going to tell me what you said to her about me?" Haley teased.

"Never." Nathan smirked.

The silence returned and Nathan turned his head slightly so he was looking at Haley. She was chewing on her bottom lip and staring intently at the ceiling. Her eyebrows were furrowed slightly.

"You okay?" Nathan nudged her gently with his shoulder.

Haley nudged him back, "I'm always okay."

Nathan moved so he was holding himself up with his elbows. He shot her an unconvinced look.

Haley sighed and clenched her eyes shut for a moment before opening them and turning in Nathan's direction. "There's a reason my Mum didn't come down to see me this weekend. It's the anniversary of Emmett's death today. It's already hard enough for my Mum to be in Tree Hill, she couldn't handle today."

"Come on." Nathan jumped off the bed suddenly.

"What?" She stared at him in confusion.

"We're going to do something fun." He responded, ignoring her groan and pulling her off the bed.

Five minutes later they were standing on the basketball court, in their usual spot by the old playground and the apple tree.

"Explain to me how this is going to be fun?" Haley asked, her hands positioned on her hips as she glared at Nathan who was bouncing his basketball on the pavement with a grin spread over his features.

"Oh come on Hales, have a little faith." Nathan quipped. "First person to get three shots in wins."

"I think I'll pass." Haley replied.

"Oh okay." Nathan shoved one of his hands in his jacket pocket, and walked slowly away from her. "I mean if you're fine with being the loser."

Haley's eyes widened slightly, "Fine, I'll play!" She scowled at him before stalking over in his direction and ripping the basketball out of his hands. "But I'm going first."

Haley positioned herself directly in front of the hoop and stared at it with intense concentration.

"Try not to mount the hoop Hales." Nathan chuckled.

"Shh." She yelled, "You'll break my focus."

Haley frowned up at the hoop which was a good few metres above her head before throwing the basketball at it. It practically went up in a straight line, and bounced slightly on the rim before gently going in.

"Yes!" Haley fist pumped the air, and jogged around the court in a brief victory lap.

Nathan laughed at her reaction before picking up the fallen ball and shooting it at the hoop without even moving forward. It immediately went in.

"I guess that makes the score even." He said.

"Damn it." Haley muttered.

Nathan grinned at her in response and chucked the basketball in her direction. She flinched slightly when the ball neared her, but still managed to catch it. Haley positioned her arms above her head and propelled the basketball in the direction of the hoop. This time it didn't even touch the hoop or the backboard. The ball instead fell to the ground like it was filled with water.

"Wow Haley." Nathan drawled, moving forward to scoop up the basketball, "You should join the team."

Haley poked her tongue out at him, "Okay All-star. Your go."

Nathan smirked at her before placing his hands precisely around the basketball. He was about to take a shot when Haley shoved him from behind causing him to stumble forward slightly and completely miss the shot altogether. However, since he was so much taller than Haley he didn't fall.

Nathan whipped around and grinned victoriously at her, he then contorted his face into a look of mock astonishment. "Oh you're on James." He passed her the basketball.

"Alright." Haley was about to take another shot when Nathan surged forward, wrapped one of his long arms around her waist and snatched her off the ground. A surprised squeal was ripped from Haley's throat as Nathan chucked her over his shoulder.

"Screw you Scott!" Haley yelled, trying to sound annoyed but failing to keep the laughter out of her voice, "Wait!" She suddenly noticed how high she was off the ground. "Walk over to the hoop."

"Are you serious?" Nathan chuckled and shook his head.

"Please Nate." She pouted, clutching the basketball in her small hands.

Nathan sighed in defeat before walking in the direction of the hoop with Haley still flung over his broad shoulder. When they were standing directly in front of the hoop he wrapped his hands tightly around Haley's waist before hoisting her upwards so she was practically level with the hoop. She placed the basketball into the hoop with a satisfied smile.

"I don't know Nathan. I'm getting pretty good, I might take your place on the team." Haley joked.

"Ladies and gentlemen look at the ego on this one!" Nathan announced to the empty space around them. He then gently placed Haley softly back on the ground.

"Say's you. Your ego is practically bigger than your entire body." Haley teased.

"Aw Hales, I can't help it that I'm this attractive." Nathan winked at her.

"You're full of shit." Haley quipped.

"You say the sweetest things to me Haley James." Nathan responded sarcastically. She grinned up at him in response.

"Would someone tell me what the hell is going on right now?" A feminine voice called from across the basketball court.

"Quinn, Taylor!"

 **AN:**

 **Hey everyone! Sorry for the late update I've been overseas on holiday and unable to write.  
** **I hope everyone enjoyed part 1 of the parent visiting day!  
** **Please let me know what you think! Reviews for me are like applause for Tinkerbell; I need it to live ;)**

 **-Rosie**


	11. You're allowed to fail

**Chapter 11: You're allowed to fail without being a failure, you're allowed to make mistakes without becoming one.**

"When did you guys get here?" Haley quickly asked her sisters. She then turned to Nathan and mouthed 'run'.

"I'm Quinn." Quinn grinned and extended her hand to Nathan which he shook in return.

"Nathan."

"Haley Bob why didn't you tell us you had a boyfriend?" Quinn continued, the grin still present on her face and growing rapidly by the second.

Oh god someone asphyxiate her to death.

"Quinn, he's not my boyfriend." Haley snapped.

"Oh good." Taylor chimed in, sliding over so was closer to Nathan. "I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Taylor." She batted her eyelashes and placed her perfectly manicured hand on Nathan's shoulder which immediately tensed uncomfortably under her touch.

"Taylor!" Haley hissed defensively before she could stop herself.

Taylor grinned at her younger sister's reaction and retracted her hand from Nathan. She then raised her eyebrow at Haley in question. Knowing she'd been backed into a corner Haley couldn't stop the deep red from spreading across her face. She scuffed her worn out converse shoe against the gravel court.

"Well Nathan, I hope you don't mind if we steal Haley from you for a while." Quinn jumped in, giving Taylor a pointed look.

"Of course not." Nathan replied politely. He wasn't sure how to act in this situation. He felt completely out of place and unsure of his movements.

He glanced over at Haley who was still glowering at her feet. Noticing the uncomfortable expression on her face, he was surprised at the immediate urge he had to shield her from the inquisitive gazes of her sister's.

"Bye Hales." Nathan said.

She looked up at him immediately with round chocolate brown eyes, and he couldn't stop himself from taking a step forward a pulling her into his arms.

The sense of mortification was still lingering in Haley's thoughts, as she mindlessly tightened her grip on Nathan and buried her face in his shoulder. He has literally spoken to her sister's for thirty seconds and already one had accused them of dating and the other was minutes away from shoving her tongue down his throat.

The embrace only lasted moments as both teenagers could feel the stares of her sisters burning into their backs. Nathan pulled back and smiled briefly at Haley. She mouthed 'sorry', he shook his head in response and then picked up his basketball and left.

"So," Taylor said turning to Haley, after Nathan's retreating figure had disappeared. "How about a hug?"

* * *

Everywhere Haley looked rows of tombstones stood upright in silence, like a never ending ocean of the deceased. Some were smooth marble with new engraving, flowers littered their bases. Some were cracked and crumbling slowly into the ground due to the weathering of years. So old that even their past mourners had joined them under the suffocating dirt.

Suddenly the silence was pierced by a deafening screech. The three sisters simultaneously shrieked as an inky black crown cackled as it flew past them and landed on one of the newer tombstones.

"Well that couldn't have been more cliché if it tried." Haley muttered, tightening the grip she had on the bunch of daisies she was carrying.

She neared Emmett's grave which was positioned under an old tree. She then gently placed the daisies at the base of the tombstone. Taylor and Quinn micked her actions with their own flowers. They then all sat down on the grass beside the tombstone.

"Where's Jeremy?" Haley asked, referring to their other sibling.

"He just got an apartment in Washington." Taylor said, picking at her pink nail polish her gaze trained on Emmett's grave.

"Mum's visiting Matthew and his family in England." Quinn said, mentioning their eldest brother.

"Have you seen Mum recently?" Haley asked.

"No." Quinn replied, as Taylor shook her head.

"I hope she's okay." Haley murmured, "She's been really distant since dad died."

"I'm sure she's fine." Quinn said, "She just grieves differently to us."

The following muteness stretched on for minutes. Haley leaned her head back on the tree feeling the rigid bark against her spine and scalp.

"You like him a lot, don't you?" Taylor asked suddenly, cutting through the comfortable silence.

"Who?" Haley asked in confusion. She opened her eyes and pulled her head up so she was staring at her sister.

"Nathan." Taylor shot her younger sister a pointed look.

"What! No…" Haley scoffed, not even managing to fool herself. She fiddled with a loose thread on her tights in a vain attempt to distract herself. "I'm trying not to."

"Haley, I know you've been hurt by a lot of people. We all have." Quinn said, "But you shouldn't let that dictate your happiness and the choices you make. For such a long time I let my fear of love control me and it almost ruined me."

"Yeah," Taylor chimed in, "Sometimes I even turned into a bit of a bitch."

"Yeah a bit." Haley teased.

Taylor made a sound of mock outrage before sticking her tongue out at her sister. "No but seriously Hay. You shouldn't be worried, that boy likes you I can tell. I mean he completely blew me off when I tried to hit on him, and that never happens."

"Oh my god Taylor." Quinn groaned, burying her face in her hands.

Haley laughed. It was the first time laughter had been heard in that graveyard.

"Just don't be afraid to back your feelings up with actions."

* * *

"You're doing it wrong Nathan!" Dan Scott yelled aggressively, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration as the basketball bounced off the rim and fell to the ground.

The moment Nathan had left Haley he had immediately run into Dan. This followed with an intense workout routine. Which basically just consisted of Dan being an ass, and Nathan trying not to beat the shit out of his father. They were now crammed in the school gym, whilst Nathan took shots at the basketball hoop.

"It was one shot dad." Nathan reasoned.

"And?" Dan spat, "I would have never missed a shot, and before the school year started neither would you. Your whole game has been off Nathan."

"How would you know, it's not like you ever pay attention to anyone that isn't yourself." Nathan muttered, taking another shot at the hoop and thankfully getting it in.

"What was that?" Dan barked, glaring menacingly at his son.

"Nothing." Nathan mumbled.

"Did I just hear you talk back to me?" Dan asked, standing up from where he had previously been sitting on the bleachers.

"No." Nathan kicked at the ground with his sneakers.

"What have I told you Nathan?" Dan lunged forward suddenly and gripped the front of Nathan's shirt in his hand lifting him slightly off the ground. "Speak with conviction. Remember your place. When I say jump you say?"

"How high." Nathan growled, glaring at his father.

"Seems you can understand something." Dan dropped Nathan to the ground and took a step back. "I heard you skipped practice the other day."

Nathan sighed, how the hell had his dad found out? He had be with Haley studying for the upcoming Biology test the next day. He couldn't afford to fail that test or he would be off the team for good, and missing one practice didn't make a difference.

"You listen to me son. You better not be blowing off basketball for some girl." Dan threatened.

"It's not like that." Nathan said.

"Take a shot." Dan said.

"What?" Nathan questioned.

"I'll be the judge of whether or not missing that practice screwed you over." Dan crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Nathan expectantly.

Nathan swallowed down his anger and nerves and held the ball up above his face. Any other day he could have made this shot in his sleep, but this wasn't just any other day. He could feel Dan's judgemental glare burning into him and throwing him off.

He took the shot.

It missed the hoop.

Shit.

"Well well." Dan cackled, "Seems like hanging out with that little bitch threw you off more then you thought."

"Shut the hell up!" Nathan snarled defensively.

Dan looked at his son in surprise. A malicious grin spread across his face when he realized he had hit a nerve.

"Aw does Nathan have a little crush?" Dan tormented, stepping closer to his son and ripping the fallen basketball from below his feet. He took a shot at the hoop and immediately got it in. "Be sure to tell me how it goes with the whore."

Nathan cracked.

He could suck it up and deal with his father insulting him, but he wasn't going to let Dan belittle Haley like that. Red filled his vision as he swung his fist in the direction of Dan's jaw.

What he wasn't anticipating was Dan catching his fist mid swing. A second later Nathan had been shoved into the cold brick wall of the gym. His vision darkened for a moment as the side of his face slammed against the wall.

"You listen to me Nathan I have given up too much to help you be great at basketball." Dan threatened, his voice dangerously low. "And I am not about to let you throw it away. You better get your head in the game, and keep your mouth shut if you know what's good for you."

With that final statement he swung his fist into his son's stomach, causing Nathan to double over in pain.

Then just like that, he left.

* * *

As Nathan stormed around campus he wondered if it was physically possible to hate someone as much as he despised his father. He raked one of his hands angrily through his dark hair, and clenched his other fist so tight that his nails dug into his palm and left crescent shaped indents on his skin.

Every time his thoughts flickered back to Dan another wave of rage viciously rolled over. He imagined one of these days it would drown him.

"Nathan?" Haley's familiar voice called, slicing through his livid thoughts.

A wide smile spread across her delicate features as she walked over to where he was standing. "I've been-"

Haley was cut off and immediately silenced when Nathan took a quick step towards her tugged her in the direction of his chest. He enveloped her petite frame in his arms, and mindlessly buried his face in her neck.

Confusion pulsed through Haley, as her quick paced mind started to come up with a million different solutions to his actions. Pushing the possibilities to the back of her head she simply tightened her arms around his torso.

Moments later Nathan pulled away from her looking moderately embarrassed at his actions. However, he certainly felt a lot better. It confused him how being with Haley, even just momentarily, could completely shift his mood.

Haley blinked up at the taller boy, "I was looking for you everywhere. We were going to go over the book for English class remember?"

"Shit Hales." Nathan ran his hand over his face, "I'm sorry. I was with Dan."

Haley bit her bottom lip making it redden slightly, "How did that go?"

"Not great." Nathan replied, deciding not to burden her with the gory details.

"Well-" She broke off suddenly, and stared at him more intently. "What the hell happened?" Haley gently placed her small hand on Nathan's now bruised cheek. The violet and shadowed black marks stained the skin around his cheekbone. She tilted his head slightly so she could see the injury better. "Did you get in another fight?" Her voice sounded slightly higher and was laced with worry.

"No." Nathan placed his hand over hers and gently removed it from his cheek, before giving it a squeeze. "I just tripped and walked into a wall when I was coming over here." The lie slipped out of his lips before he could stop it.

"Can we go to the park before we study?" Nathan asked, trying desperately to take Haley's mind off his injuries.

Haley scanned his face once more before nodding in agreement. They stopped by Nathan's dorm room, so that he could drop off his basketball. Whilst there Haley picked up one of Nathan's hoodies that lay discarded on his bed. She tugged it over her head, her long honey blonde curls momentarily covered before her head popped out the other end.

"What?" Haley pouted, when she caught Nathan staring at her, "I'm cold."

Nathan chuckled slightly, unable to keep the smile from his face.

They walked in silence to their usual spot near the old playground, worn down basketball court, and the single apple tree.

Haley skipped slightly over to the swing set in the playground and sat down on one of the two swings. Nathan followed suit and took a seat beside her.

"Was it good seeing your sisters?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, even under the circumstances. I missed them." Haley replied, fiddling with the sleeves of his hoodie that went way past her fists.

The shirt was practically swallowing her petite figure, and it was taking all of Nathan's willpower not to kiss her right then and there. His eyes widened slightly as the thought crossed his mind. He had to stop thinking like that.

"Are you looking forward to Christmas?" Nathan asked, attempting to side-track his thoughts.

"Um not particularly." Haley responded, glancing down at her hands. "We haven't really celebrated it since my brother…" She trailed off, staring intently at the ground.

"Well you should come to Lucas' for Christmas." Nathan said, "The whole gang usually stay there on Christmas Eve."

"Okay." Haley whispered.

"Okay?" Nathan asked, making sure he had heard her correctly.

"Yes I'll go." Haley smiled at him, and nudged him slightly with her shoulder.

"Do you think people can change?" Nathan asked abruptly. The question had been on his mind for a while, and had resurfaced after his confrontation with Dan.

Haley chewed on her bottom lip and sorted through her thoughts carefully. "Yes." She said after a moment of silence. "I didn't use to. I guess I thought that people were always going to be who they once were, and that if their personality shifted they hadn't changed. They were pretending. But now I think it's possible. I mean, I've seen it happen."

Nathan smiled slightly at her, "What about destiny? Do you think we're just destined to one day turn into our parents?"

"God I hope not." Haley chuckled humourlessly, "I don't really believe in destiny. I think all the choices we make add up to the person we become. And that you can chose what kind of person you want to be. Because at the end of the day we're not our parents, and we don't ever have to be."

Nathan looked at the girl in front of him intently, unable to keep the awed expression off his features. How was it possible that she was able to be so strong? After everything she had been through. She was everything good in his life, and he knew that, even though he would never admit it.

In that moment Nathan came to the conclusion that Haley James was inconceivably beautiful. Not just in what she looked like, or how she acted, or what she said. Just in who she was. He hoped one day she learned to believe that.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Haley asked, her face turning crimson with embarrassment as she brushed at her cheeks. Nathan immediately broke his gaze from hers and shook his head.

"Then why are you staring at me?" She asked softly. Haley could feel his blue eyed gaze boring into her, and making her feel slightly tingly. God, he could shatter hearts with eyes like that.

Nathan absentmindedly reached out and brushed a lock of her honey blonde hair gently behind her ear.

"You're just really beautiful Hales." He murmured, unable to stop his idiotic mouth from spitting out what he was thinking.

Haley immediately turned bright red and pulled her woollen scarf up to cover her face slightly. The two teenagers made eye contact once more before both whirling around so they were facing the apple tree in front of them. An extremely flustered Haley was attempting to keep her hammering heart from clawing its way out of her chest. Whilst Nathan was willing the ground to split down the middle and swallow him whole.

Silence engulfed them momentarily and the teenagers both started to suffocate in their own thoughts; to Haley nothing had ever sounded so loud.

"Nathan…you're beautiful too." She joked, her tone light-hearted as she tried to lift the mood.

Nathan turned to her, relief painted his features. He then stuck his tongue out at her. "Don't you forget it James."

"I bet I can swing higher then you." Haley said, starting to rock herself back and forth on the swing.

"You wish." Nathan laughed, "At least I can reach the ground."

"Hey!" She said, looking at him in mock hurt. "I'm not that short. I'm just fun sized."

Nathan grinned at her crookedly and waggled his eyebrows.

"Ew!" Haley squealed, "That is not what I meant."

"Sure Haley." Nathan teased, kicking himself off the ground and launching himself into the air.

"Shut up." She grumbled, slowing herself down on the swing. "Let's just go look at the book for English."

* * *

Ten minutes later they had reached Haley's empty dorm room. Peyton was spending time with her dad, and Brooke was on a date with Lucas so they had the room to themselves.

Haley sat cross-legged on her bed, leaning slightly against the wooden backboard. Nathan was positioned beside her, crouched over _To Kill A Mockingbird_ as he tried to read the book aloud.

"You never un…" Nathan trailed off and raked his hand through his dark hair in frustration.

"Understand." Haley prompted gently, as she leant over to see what word he was stuck on.

Nathan sucked in a breath and started again, "You never understand a person until you co…con…"

He felt his whole body start to shake with exasperation. Why couldn't he get this right? Reading was supposed to be easy. Five year olds could read better then him. His dad was right. Maybe he deserved everything that had happened.

Suddenly he snapped and angrily hurled the book across the room, where it hit the wall with a loud thump. Nathan threw himself off the bed and started to furiously pace back and forth across the length of the room.

"I'm such an idiot." Nathan exclaimed, "I can't do anything right. My dad's right, I am a disappointment."

"Nathan…" Haley slowly stood up from the bed and neared the broken boy in front of her.

"I'm pathetic Haley." Nathan murmured, looking at her with wide vulnerable blue eyes.

"Nathan Scott, you listen to me. You are not pathetic." Haley said firmly, taking his hand in hers and tugging him so they were both sitting on her bed again. "Nathan, what happened?"

When he looked up, he noticed she wasn't talking about the previous events but was instead staring at the bruising on his face.

"I told you, I walked into-"

Haley cut him off instantly, "No, what really happened?"

Nathan opened his mouth, intending on lying again. But once he looked into her big brown eyes staring at him with such concern, he felt his heart shatter in his chest and he couldn't stop himself from blurting out the truth.

"It was my dad."

Haley's expression immediately shifted to dismay, "He did this to you?"

Nathan nodded, "I don't know what to do Hales." His voice was thick with pent up emotion.

"It's okay." Haley choked out, unsure how to help the boy in front of her.

"It's not." Nathan responded, "I don't know how to make it okay."

Nathan suddenly reached out his arms in Haley's direction. She wondered briefly if this was the first time he had sort comfort with someone.

Without giving it another thought she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, pulling him closer towards her. He let out a shaky breath into her neck and she tried to tug him even closer against her; so that there was physically no space between them. Haley was aware she couldn't push the pain out of Nathan by hugging him tighter, but that didn't mean she couldn't try.

"You'll be alright." Haley soothed. She had never seen him this upset before, and it was tearing her up to see him in so much pain.

Nathan pushed his nose firmly into her collarbone and she ran a hand absentmindedly through his hair.

"Nate," Haley murmured, after a few moments of silence. "Nate, please look at me."

When he glanced up his eyes were bloodshot and slightly watery. She felt an uncomfortable ache in her chest when she looked at him suffering.

"I wish you'd told me." Haley whispered, placing her small hands gently on either side of his face and brushing her thumbs under his eyes to rid them of the tear tracks. "I could have helped you."

"I didn't want to burden you." Nathan replied, "Or make you think differently of me. I didn't want you to leave."

"Nathan Scott, I am here for you forever. Okay?" Haley leaned her forehead against his slightly, "You're going to have to try a lot harder if you want to get rid of me."

"Promise?" Nathan hated how much he needed Haley, but he couldn't avoid the obvious truth. For the first time in his life someone had crashed their way through the walls he had built. He had allowed himself to need someone, and there was no turning back now.

"I promise." Haley responded, "Always and forever."

Nathan smiled at the petite girl in front of him. She hopped off the bed and walked across the room to pick up the discarded book before placing it on her bedside table and sitting back down.

"I'm never going to get it." Nathan said, staring at the book.

"You will." Haley reassured, "You just need to keep practicing."

"It doesn't matter anyway." Nathan responded, leaning against the backboard. "We're supposed to have the first ten chapters read by Monday."

Haley hesitated momentarily before speaking, "I could read it to you."

"It's fine." Nathan replied. He had already practically had a meltdown in front of Haley, he wasn't going to make her read to him.

"Seriously Nate." Haley said, "I haven't read _To Kill A Mockingbird_ for a while, you'll be doing me a favour."

He looked at her briefly for a moment before lying down on the bed beside her.

"I'm sorry about today Hales." Nathan murmured, staring intently at a chipped piece of paint in the ceiling. "I was kind of a downer."

"Don't apologize." Haley said firmly, picking the book up and resting it on her thighs, "You don't have to be happy all the time, it's okay not to be okay."

 **AN:**

 **What did you think?  
Let me know if you like how I am presenting the relationship between Nathan and Haley, and between their families.  
Thank you to all the amazing people who reviewed the last chapter, please review this one!**

 **-Rosie**


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